Life and Other Complications
by Tessalationx13
Summary: "You are head over heels, down a flight of stairs, and spread eagle on the floor in love with our lovely Dr. Spencer Reid." The first battle was making their feelings known, but life always seemed to have more complications in store for them. MoReid. Slash. The journey of our two favorite hunk men, and the team. Cluster of romance, drama, comedy, and angst.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Some disregard to Criminal Minds timeline. I was going to write it at the end of season 8, but I wanted it to be earlier, and I wanted Prentiss, and not a new character to have to try to write for.

Cheerfully humming Derek Morgan and Penelope Garcia walked arm and arm down the pavement. The city lights twinkled and flashed, the sounds of yelling and laughter mixed together into an audio track of Saturday downtown.

"It's too bad we couldn't get Junior G-man to come," Garcia sighed and leaned her head on Morgan's shoulder. To most people they looked like a couple taking a stroll to the bar. Both friend's knew their love was platonic, they were relaxed with each other. They agreed comfort was best found within friendship's like theirs, and they took advantage of it, especially after long cases.

"You know Pretty Boy doesn't like the bar and club scene," Morgan sighed, wishing that wasn't the case. "Besides, what about Prentiss, or JJ, or Hotch, or Rossi? Don't you wish they were here?" He gave her a prod in the ribs and she giggled.

"Well, duh. Gosh you are definitely more sexy chocolate brawn than brain aren't ya?" She chided devilishly.

"Ohhh no, no, Baby Girl. I know that smile, are you plotting something? What do you know?"

"Geez, you are way too tense, Milk Chocolate Perfection," she had an endless amount of nicknames for everyone she knew, he really needed to start making a compilation. He could probably make it into a book.

Morgan rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, his face creasing into lines of worry. "I'm sorry Baby Girl. I just really need to let off some steam and dance." Garcia reached up with her free hand to grab the arm interlinked with hers and gave it a squeeze. "I still think there's something whirling around in that galaxy of perversion you call your brain." He added with his usual charming smile and twinkle to his eye.

Garcia knew the real reason for his tense gait, and hunt for the dance, and it wasn't for his normal reasons. Her Derek Morgan, her chocolate easter egg of gooey wonder, was in love. She knew exactly who with too, even if he didn't know it yet. She wasn't a profiler, but she took pride in her match making abilities. Even still, she knew she couldn't meddle yet, maybe not ever. The thought began to tug on her heart, but she turned her focus on the night ahead of her.

"Well, shall we start with the filthiest club first, skip the pre game, and get down 'n dirty right out the gate?" She looked up with her blonde locks dancing around her face and Morgan returned her mischievous grin.

"Oh, absolutely sexy thang, I think a night like tonight it'll be the only way to go."

C/M/C/M/C/M

The distinct smell of crisp paged books filled the air. An alternative band from the 90's rocked softly on the stereo, and a glass of wine sat idly on the coffee table.

Really this should've been a perfect night for Spencer Reid. He had three of his great comforts, but he had a nagging feeling in his gut, like he was missing out on something. There was no way he was missing out on anything though. Morgan and Garcia had invited him out to the club, but that was it, and that was definitely not something he was interested in, no matter the company.

He took a drink of his red wine and set it down on the shabby wooden table. Hazel brown eyes drifted back to the book spread open on his lap, but there was nothing for it, his thoughts were not going where he wanted them to. There were too many of them tumbling and whirling around each other. He leaned into the arm of the couch and brought his legs up to the side underneath him. Normally his books were how he unwound, and how he organized himself, but tonight he knew what he needed. He needed to "zonk" out, as Morgan would've said. With the T.V. flipped on to the History channel, and his cat Cobain curled up just behind his feet, he began to try to do just that.

It was an hour and two glasses of wine later that it hit him. God dammit did he miss Morgan. No, that couldn't be right. He missed company? His friends? Snatching up his phone he pressed his 3rd speed dial for JJ, and realized that no, he didn't want to speak to her, so it wasn't company or friends.

"Oh, jesus fuck christ." The words felt foreign on his lips, but he felt that obscenities were the best fitting option. His shocking revelation had him springing to his feet. "Why the hell am I leaping to my feet like I need to put something into action?" He began to pace around his coffee table, his black furred cats eyes followed him, and he gave a soft mew of comfort. Reid looked up at the feline helplessly and came to a halt.

"No, no, no." He steadied his hands in front of him, and shook his head, as if he could snap the string holding the ridiculous notion to his brain. He turned back to his cat, and settled his hands on his hips in what he hoped was a stern, firm gesture. "I do not have feelings for Derek Morgan."

Cobain did nothing but lick his lips, yawn, and then give Reid what he would've deciphered as a matter of fact look if it hadn't been on the face of his cat.

"No, I do not have feelings for him!" He repeated to the feline, but Cobain looked unconvinced. Reid's shoulders slumped and he worried his bottom lip with his teeth. "I'm attempting to convince my cat, named after a dead musical artist, that I don't have romantic feelings for one of my best friends." It wasn't as much as a worried exasperation as it was a statement. A further testament to his odd persona.

Time ticked passed as the WW2 documentary continued softly on the television. Reid stared at the hardwood floor of his apartment, the lines beginning to contort the longer he went without blinking. He let his mind adrift in the see of his knowledge, picking out random statistics and facts.

"1 in 10 people are gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual. Some statistics even estimate it at 1 in 20. If that's true, than the odds of both of us being gay or bisexual are not very good. But still, not everything is a statistic, right?" He whirled around to look at Cobain who stood and stretched. "I'm sorry am I boring you?" Reid asked his cocky feline friend.

"Four out of 10 workplace dating relationships result in marriage, but statistics don't tell much about disruptions in the workplace because of it." Reid paused, "the BAU doesn't allow for fraternization so, no, I am telling myself that I do not have feelings for Derek Morgan. So, there!" Childishly Reid crossed his arms and plopped himself down on the floor in a cross legged position, his bottom lip pouting out.

Speaking to his heart wasn't something that Reid took part in often in his life. One thing that Spencer Reid would finally come to learn was that you couldn't tell your heart what to do like you could your brain.

C/M/C/M/C/M

"Reid, man, lollipops?" Morgan raised his eyebrows across the bullpen to his genius companion. Reid grinned like a shy child and popped the candy out of his mouth.

"Yes, Morgan, lollipops." He responded simply, and after a pondering look he added, "man." Morgan broke out into an amused grin. He loved when Reid brought some humor to the table. It used to be a rare occurrence, but over the months Reid had become better at it.

It had been two years since the night of Reid's revelation. Two years since he had stuffed those feelings into a pit somewhere in his brain and heart, two years since Garcia had made the decision to let Morgan figure out his own feelings for himself.

Cases had come and gone. Reid had continued to remain clean after his forced run in with Dilaudid two years prior. He was 27 years old now, and with JJ back, the family remained intact. Almost every profiler had a pep in their step, even with the hardships and horrors they faced on a daily basis.

"We've got a case," JJ announced from her office doors. The agents in the bullpen all began to close their files and put them away, all standing in unison to head to the round table room.

"Because we're knights of the round table!" Reid began to sing arm in arm with Prentiss.

"That song was slightly ruined for me after that whole Fischer King thing." Morgan winced.

"Hey, nothing can ruin Monty Python!" Reid exclaimed, but all the same he stuck his lollipop back in his mouth and ceased his rendition. He sucked on the hard candy, pulled it out with a pop and took a long lick up from the base of the circular sucker.

Garcia smiled wickedly and pulled away from the two, with a twist and a flourish she took a seat by Prentiss who watched Reid with a combination of curiosity and amusement.

Meanwhile, Reid was eliciting a response from Morgan that the dark skinned man had not been entirely expecting. Sure, he found Reid pretty damn attractive, they almost kissed once, and they exchanged sexually charged glances often, but the tingling in his nether regions was not a welcome effect going into the round table room. The look on Hotch's face silenced and focused all the profilers in the room, and with a more meaningful, intense look at Reid the lollipop was twirled back into its wrapper for later. Morgan quickly averted his eyes to the screen, waiting for the horrid images to chase the sexual reactions in his pants away.

C/M/C/M/C/M

Light dimly absorbed Derek Morgan's office. His forehead lay on his desk, his arms fallen forward to hang limp between his legs. For the first time Derek Morgan was clueless as what to do about a romantic situation. Then again he had more sexual situations than romantic ones.

One year had passed since Reid had begun his lollipop obsession, which would disappear for a few months, before returning full force much to both Morgan's dismay and pleasure. One year since Derek Morgan began to realize that his feelings for Reid had grown into a full fledged bouquet of mushiness, fueled by their growing friendship. In that year horrible things had happened. Hotch had temporarily stepped down, due to a serial killer targeting his family, which resulted in the death of his still loved ex wife, Haley. Morgan had gotten an office when he had stepped up for a short time, and while he was no longer head of his team, he got to keep his office. Part of him was grateful for the solitude, and the other part cursed it.

He was grateful because he didn't have to try to tuck his boner under his waistband anymore like a boy going through puberty whenever Reid would break out a lollipop, or bend over in those new pants he had started to wear that accentuated his butt in ways that made Morgan want to grind up against something, preferably Reid. But damn he cursed the fact he didn't get to watch Reid's supple lips, see his gorgeous smile, and just generally interact with him like he used to be able to when their desks sat so much closer together.

The conflict that he felt wasn't so much about the lack of attention he got to pay to his coworker while at work, but that he shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't tell Reid about his feelings. There were so many reasons not to, but…

"What if he doesn't…Ugh, I don't know what the fuck to do with this…" He was talking out loud to himself, great. His office door was closed, but it didn't really matter because it was one in the morning and no one was there anyway. "I've never felt like this before. All I want to do is pamper, cuddle, touch, appreciate, and comfort him. Be with him. I wanna do all those coupley things."

That thought had Morgan lifting his head from his desk, a paper momentarily sticking to his forehead before he swatted it away, his eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. He began to pack up all of his papers and files. "Fuck this, I've been thinking too much."

He, Derek Morgan, the badass who kicked in doors, tackled bad guys, and took them down, was afraid of feelings of love. As he stood to make his way out the door he halted, and just stood, staring at the cool metal handle with a frown on his face.

Reid couldn't know about Morgan's feelings. There was no way he'd be interested, there was no way the BAU would allow it, and Morgan was sure he'd fuck it up anyway. With that thought in his mind, and the determination not to ruin their friendship, or hurt Reid, he snapped the door open and closed it gently behind him, although no one would be around to hear it.

C/M/C/M/C/M

_Dispondent_. Spencer Reid thought to himself, sitting at his desk in the bullpen. The file open in front of him would normally be in his hands while he impatiently flicked through the pages, finishing his stack of files much quicker than the rest of the team. Today, well to be honest with himself every day for a month, he had been sluggishly whittling away at his work. It was at the beginning of that month that he realized for all his efforts to push away his feelings for Morgan, and change his way of dress to attract a different mate to help diminish said feelings, that two things happened instead. One, his social life outside of his friends with the BAU did not grow enough to get to know or attract anyone else, and two, that while he had tried to ignore his feelings they had done nothing but flourish with a vengeance.

The young genius rested his elbows on his desk and perched his head on his fingertips, seemingly having a staring match with the untouched file in front of him, his eyes boring into the acronym FBI. So caught up in himself and his thoughts he didn't realize Prentiss' eyebrows raised in his direction.

Subconsciously Reid glanced up at Morgan's office. The door was open as it always was during the day, the blinds open, the sunlight filtering through his office windows and splashing into the hallway.

"Ahem, ahem." Prentiss conspicuously cleared her throat. Reid realized he had leaned back in his chair, his brows furrowed, his fingers tapping rapidly against the arms of his chair as if trying to beat out some sort of spastic rhythm to match his brain. With little effort he brought the horribly familiar, blank, listless, mask over his face.

Coffee, that was always a good solution. His lack of sleep and his thought distraction caused for a almost constant supply of coffee as of late, and his mug had been empty for awhile, too all consumed with his mental reflections to care.

Standing nonchalantly he strode passed his coworkers' desks, and made a b line for the break room. He used to make a spectacle of himself when something was bothering him, rushing off with his head down, reading like an open book to all the profilers. He was sure they could still read him pretty well, but none of them knew what to think of the uncharacteristic, blank, apathetic, face he wore almost constantly around them. He was sure if there was a stoic facial expression contest Hotch might actually have a contender.

"2000 frowns create one wrinkle," he stated out loud to no one, and heaving a breath through his nose he set about brewing a strong batch of liquid life, mechanically spooning out the coffee and clicking the spectacular overly used button.

"Go forth and make me my magic potion." He commanded the coffee machine as if he was on some sort of quest, although the bravado from his voice was missing. The machine seemed to sense it and sat, giving him nothing. "Fucking piece of shit," he gave it a thud on the top with his clenched fist, it shuddered slightly, but began to spit forth the brew, the smell sifting through the air.

With his mind preoccupied he hadn't realized Morgan leaning casually against the door frame, watching him intently with his trademark grin. The smile faltered and altogether disappeared at the words leaving Reid's mouth. He began to take in his posture; shoulders up, back hunched, and head lilting forward like a dying flower. His arms were spread and his fists rested on the counter, clenched so hard his knuckles were straining white.

"Hey Reid," he strolled into the room, trying his best to act as if he hadn't bore witness to the vocabulary he rarely heard Reid use. "How's it hanging?"

"Groovy," Reid spat at him, and then realizing what he'd done shook his head and unclenched his fists, "sorry, just need more coffee, I'm good though." He tried for his best trademark shy smile. God, he couldn't be in the same room as Morgan without that empty feeling brimming up in his chest and into his throat, and then came the familiar anxiety.

Love, that's all Morgan felt as his eyes took in the façade that Reid was trying to plaster all over himself, but it was like peeling wallpaper and the elder profiler could see the beaten walls underneath. God, how he just wanted to wrap his arms around that small frame and squeeze the nuts and bolts out, loosen his Pretty Boy back out into the awkward, compassionate man he used to be, instead of this robotic, fake person he had become.

The distance between them had become ridiculous over the last month. Reid had taken steps back from all of them, and none of them could pinpoint why. At first Prentiss had worried about a drug relapse, but they all realized that wasn't it at all. He wasn't as snappy as he was depressed. Morgan felt his heart ache for his love, and he knew he couldn't take it anymore. But how could he do this? How could he tell Reid he loved him, wanted him?

Morgan looked into Reid's eyes, on the hunt for that gleam that was distinctly Reid. It took longer than it should've to find, but it was still there. The bright, lovely Spencer was in there, and he wanted to pull him back out. It was decided right there and then for Morgan. Finally, four years late, consequences be damned, he was going to go after what he wanted. All he wanted was Reid, all he wanted was to make him happy for the rest of their lives, and finally he saw that they were perfect for each other. It could work, he'd make it work. With his stubborn head back on his shoulders, he began to try to lighten the mood. Still, _Baby steps _he told himself.

"You always were a terrible liar," he joked and bumped Reid out of the way with one of his hips. "Me first!" His grin turned devilish and he grabbed the coffee pot, taking Reid's gorgeous face in from the corner of his eye. Stunningly Reid's reaction was a flat face, but he could see gears turning in his friend's head, could hear the millions of hands and threads ticking and strumming.

The knock Morgan had given Reid with his hip while short lived had sent a tingling jolt across Reid's skin. It raced up, and down his side to spread all across his body, all his nerve endings flashed on and off like sunlight dancing across a mirror. Reid hoped his blank expression hid his absolute delight, or at least that Morgan thought there was a different reason behind his racing synapses.

With a heavy sigh Morgan grabbed Reid's mug and poured him coffee as well, then added spoonful after spoonful of sugar. The genius watched him with a frown of thought passing over his face. He thanked Morgan softly and gave him a small smile. The broad smile Morgan gave him in return was just for him and released butterflies in his gut, they flew up through his stomach and into his chest, causing his heart to beat faster. The feeling was short lived as the stabbing pain of unrequited love pierced his heart soon after.

_Baby steps_, Morgan reminded himself when he saw the fleeting elation replaced by pain in Reid's eyes, not realizing that the pain could be erased with one brush of the lips from Morgan.

Both men continued to stand together, sipping their coffee, neither making a move to leave the room like they knew they should. If someone was to encroach on the scene the thinking of both agents would've sounded like shouting.

Finally Morgan heaved a sigh, turned to the counter and set his coffee mug down, but didn't let go of the handle, just froze. He felt like anymore movement could send Reid fleeing the room like a gazelle being hunted by a lion.

"Reid…" He knew he couldn't tell him about his feelings here, but he could at least try to get crawling under his skin, up his arm and into that brain of his to help pull him out of whatever he was stuck in. "I don't know what's been eating you lately, but we can all see it, and…"

"Great, and what can everyone see?" Reid surprised himself with how his words dripped with bitter venom. He didn't want to seem angry at Morgan, but the thought that they had discussed his new attitude behind his back had him on the defensive, which Morgan had to know, but still… "Look, I'm sorry, I know you're just worried, but please don't be." _Especially since I can't actually tell you what's wrong or you'll be running to the hills and I'll never find you_. He added in his mind.

"Spencer, I'm serious." That's all the dark skinned man said for awhile, and they simply stood some more. Reid felt extremely awkward, and began to look for an escape route. Someone had to be wondering what the hell they were doing away from their desks for so long.

Morgan always had been a heart on his sleeve kind of guy though, so he plunged forward. "Pretty Boy, you've disappeared. I can hardly see you in those big, doe eyes of your's, and it's eating me alive dammit." The quietly spoken admission danced on marionette strings in between them. "I wish you would come to me, talk to me. You always try to be too strong, and you bottle it all up and in return it eats you up, and I can't stand to watch it. I want you to be happy, Spencer."

The young genius mulled over the analysis in his mind. Yes, he did let his problems eat him alive. It wasn't that he wanted to wallow in his own self pity, it was just how he was.

The younger agent took a unheard step forward, gently wrapping his hand around Morgan's forearm, simply holding it, knowing contact comforted the elder man, and knowing that Reid initiating it would mean more. "I'm sorry." He whispered to the strong bodied man beside him. In that moment the strength seemed dulled down. Reid had done that to him? Just by being depressed? The pang of regret caused his depression to worsen. Morgan was hurting because of Reid. How could Reid be so selfish?

"I'm really, really sorry. I didn't know I was making you feel that way. I know you always want to help me. I have a really hard time opening up to people, and I know that's not an excuse for pushing you away, because you're my best friend and you've always been there for me, but I can't help it. I don't talk about my personal feelings a lot, it's just a way that I protect myself. It's kind of selfish of me. I should know better, seeing as I have a bachelor in psychology. I can read other's so well, but when it comes to myself…Oh jesus, I'm rambling, I'm sorry, I'll stop now. Oh fuck…" The thin man had let loose of the muscular man's arm and was wringing his hands together, eyes locked on the floor. It was the most emotion Morgan had seen from him in awhile.

"You didn't have to stop your ramble…You never do it anymore, and it made me realize how much I like it. I missed it."

Both men stood in silence a moment longer, thinking about how personal the discussion had gotten. That didn't happen anymore either.

"Pretty Boy…" Morgan started, but he was interrupted by another voice.

"Hey, guys. Um…" JJ looked from one man to another, a motherly flicker of understanding passing over her face. "Sorry for interrupting, but we've got a case." She left them quickly, not wanting to linger. Reid couldn't help but feel a little relieved, but mostly he felt like the conversation couldn't end there.

"Come on, Spencer. We've got a job to do, but don't think you're off the hook." The strong agent winked at Reid, trying to lighten the mood enough for their work day to continue unhindered. Reid knew that although his coworker was joking the feeling's they had discussed were not being brushed away.

"If we must," Reid feigned great annoyance, but cracked a strained smile in an attempt to do a complete 180 in attitude. He allowed Morgan to briefly grab his shoulder, before they turned to make their way through the bullpen, when Reid abruptly halted. "You keep calling me Spencer." It wasn't a question of why, just a statement.

"Yes, I do. I like it better when we're not at work."

"But we are at work."

"Oh shush yourself. Maybe a lollipop would help?" Morgan grinned mischievously.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" The words passed Reid's lips without pretense and he bit his lip, hoping it didn't sound as sexual to Morgan as it did to him, which he doubted since Morgan's mind was much more in the gutter than his own.

"What would Morgan like?" Garcia asked, coming up behind them on their journey to the conference room.

"Come on, we've got to get going." Hotch's stern voice interrupted.

"Guess you'll never know." Morgan taunted Garcia who glared, and Reid smirked.

"Oh, I have my ways mister SSA Derek Morgan." She threatened in a sing song voice.

The two men felt the same panic, neither of them knowing it was mutual. Garcia was not a woman to be reckoned with, and they didn't want her meddling, especially with both of them thinking their love was one sided.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: A bit of a short one but I wanted it separate from the next chapter. I hope you enjoy. I've had some issues with character and plot development, so let me know what I can improve on. =)

CM/CM/CM/CM/CM/

Sounds of keys clanging on wood, and shoes being kicked off carelessly rang through the dark, quiet home. Two damn weeks they'd been on their last case, two damn weeks of not having a chance to find out what was causing Reid's depression.

Morgan shuffled through his house to his bedroom. After stripping off his shirt and throwing on a pair of gray sweats he began a stare down with his bed. There was no way he could sleep right now, even with the exhaustion he felt deep in his muscles and bones.

Heavy heart in chest, and beer in hand, Morgan settled down on his couch and flipped on the television. It was late, so there wasn't anything good on, and Clooney was still at the neighbors since it would've been rude to wake them. As the loneliness and boredom filtered through him he heard the familiar ring of his cell phone down the hallway.

With the thought of someone to talk to the burly man leapt to his feet and raced into his bedroom, snatching up his jeans, pulling his phone out of its place on his jean's belt, and snapping it open.

"Morgan here," he answered, trying to not sound elated at human contact.

"Hey there stud muffin!" Garcia exclaimed on the other end. Morgan could feel his heart lift at the sound of her voice. If there was one person on the Earth that he could talk to, it was her.

"Hello my solace, what's got you calling me so late? Aren't you with Kevin?"

"Oh, I'm sorry dream hunk, am I interrupting something?"

"The only thing I would've been doing besides nursing a beer is sleeping, and no." He padded softly down his hallway and resumed his post on the couch.

"Honey, it's two in the morning, you should be sleeping." Garcia chided.

"Oh really, so why aren't you?"

"I knew you'd be awake and stewing in something, so I thought I'd call to lend a listening ear and a comforting phantom hand," she explained. Morgan could hear her pouring herself a drink and some other clattering in the background.

"Baby Girl, are you cooking at two in the morning?" Concern laced his voice, baking and cooking were two of her favorite outlets.

"Yes, I'm baking some delicious cupcakes for the team. I'm spending the night alone, and after that last case I can't sleep, and I know none of you will be able to either, so I'm making sugary treats to get us all going tomorrow."

"That's what coffee's for."

"Yes, but coffee doesn't give you the endorphins chocolate does."

"Peas do," Morgan replied automatically. There was silence on the phone. "Sorry, just something Reid said to me once..."

"Ah, yes, Reid." Garcia replied knowingly. Silence stretched between them as they took gulps of their respective brews.

"Um, yeah, so did you want to talk to me about something?" The dark agent mumbled, feeling tense at the amount of understanding Garcia had voiced in that one sentence.

"I was going to ask you that," she replied sweetly. "This last case was hard on all of us, but you seemed to be bothered by something much more."

She was right, although all of them were rocked by the brutality of the massacre of families, and the sickness of what he'd done to the children, Morgan was bothered by something more personal even before boarding the jet.

"Besides, I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask what Reid was talking about, you know, when he said, 'you'd like that wouldn't you' to you before the case."

Smiling at the memory Morgan finished his beer and made his way to the kitchen for another. He kicked the fridge door closed and after discarding the beer cap into the garbage he leaned against the counter, contemplative. The tech kitten patiently waited, noises from her baking the only sounds.

"I'm not sure I should really talk to anyone about it." His admission was quiet.

"I understand if you feel that way chocolate thunder, but I want to put it out there that one, I am always here for you and nothing you say will go beyond this conversation, and two, I am the goddess of all knowing, and I think I already know what the dealio is."

"Okay smarty pants, how about you tell me what you think the dealio is, and I'll listen." Morgan took another drink of beer, set it down, and ran his now free hand over his scalp, trying to slow his breathing and pittering heart.

The sound of an oven being shut, and the beeping of a timer being set was the response to Morgan's words. He tried to wait patiently but he felt anxious. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he wished Garcia would hurry the hell up and be out with it.

"Okay, so now that I have my refill and my lovely cupcakes are in the oven I'm going to curl up on my couch. I would like for you to do the same." Garcia's motherly voice left no room for argument. Morgan grabbed his beer and shuffled back into the living room, he grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and curled into his favored corner, the blanket spread across his lap.

"Are we all settled in?" She demanded.

"Yes." He told her, hoping his voice sounded sturdy.

"Okay, here we gooo!" She mimicked Mario's voice from N64 and Morgan couldn't help but crack a smile. The woman sure did know how to relieve some tension to a situation, even with only the presence of her voice.

"I'll keep this short and sweet, as sweet as can be, because I feel like enough time has been wasted." She started, her voice tactfully even. "You are head over heels, down a flight of stairs, and spread eagled on the floor in love with our lovely Dr. Spencer Reid." She stated, it was definitely not a question. Morgan let his head fall back against the couch and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Shit...How do you...? Oh fuck, do you think anyone else knows?"

"Well, I can tell you for sure our boy genius doesn't." She sounded a little resentful about that.

"I'm not good at relationships, baby girl. I couldn't risk hurting him...But when we were in the break room-"

"Shush, I'm not finished." Garcia growled. "I wasn't going to interfere, but after the last month and half of watching our lovely junior g-man go into a pit of depression, and then after witnessing you're behavior for the last two weeks, I'm putting my foot down. You are going to tell him."

"Hun, I decided that two weeks ago...I just haven't had a chance..." Morgan ran his hand over his bald head again, feeling slightly asinine. "I don't know how to do this. I'm so bad at relationships, like real ones. I don't want to hurt him. I don't think he even wants me, but I want to make him happy, and I know we'd be so good for each other, I just don't want to risk hurting him, or being rejected, I..."

"You've always gone after what you wanted, don't stop now." She reminded him.

"You are way too perceptive baby girl...How long have you known?"

"Four years."

"I haven't known for four years. How the hell have you?"

"I am the fountain of _all_ knowledge." Garcia replied playfully. "So, do you have a plan yet?"

Morgan chewed on the inside of his cheek in thought for a moment. "No. I mean, I should just up and tell him, but…I don't know."

Sounds of more baking filled Morgan's ears and he gulped down the rest of his beer. Not being sure of Reid's feelings for him he didn't know what to do. It would hurt worse if he got shot down outright.

"Maybe I should play the subtle hand?" Morgan suggested.

"That would be waaay more fun." Garcia agreed. She had a feeling that Reid reciprocated Morgan's feelings, but she wasn't sure on what level. Plus, what fun would she have watching the show if it happened too fast?

"I think I can do subtle."

"It might be a challenge for you," Garcia said, her voice full of amusement. "But, I agree, it's the best way."

"Alright, well, I'd better head for bed I guess." Morgan groaned and stood to stretch out his aching spine. "And you, baby girl, should do the same."

"Yes, yes. Now, I don't want you backing out of this, you hear me?" Garcia's tone had become sharp and motherly.

"Of course not, sweet thang. I'll see you tomorrow."

With thoughts of Spencer Reid and cupcakes swirling through his mind, Derek Morgan slumped off to bed for a very short lived nights sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for all your support! =) Fall semester starts next week, so unfortunately that means that homework will be stomping out my free time, but I will be writing whenever I can, and will keep updating, but probably only once a week or every two weeks. I hope you enjoy! 3

Oh, and by the way, what's with this Reid having a love interest in season 8 I hear of? A female love interest, not named Derek Morgan? Wtf is that?! Sorry, needed to get that out. =P

And I fixed the absolutely idiotic mistake I made about Rome. Lol.

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Cupcakes upon cupcakes were piled in containers on Garcia's side desk. She didn't know how time seemed to elude her completely, but she had made cupcakes into the morning, only realizing what time it was when JJ called her to see if she could get her any coffee.

"Oh, wow. Where the hell did you get all these?" Prentiss asked when she came to visit Garcia that morning.

"I made them!" Garcia exclaimed. "I haven't slept, but I got a bunch of 5 hour energy's and I've had a massive amount of coffee!"

Prentiss arched an eyebrow at her and put a hand on her shoulder, "I think you need to calm down." She gave Garcia a smile and the tech kitten stuck her tongue out at her.

"That container is for you, BTW, so you should be nicer." Garcia spun in her chair to grab the container and handed it out to Prentiss who took it wearily.

"Thanks, Garcia. Jeez, there's like 12 in here." She took a closer look and laughed, "why did you draw penis' on some of them?"

The techie waved her hand dismissively, "you get bored with the pretty stuff after baking for four hours, now go forth and be your sexy, kick ass, agent, self elsewhere! I'm expecting Chocolate Thunder."

"I see how it is." Prentiss stuck out her tongue and left, eager to eat some of her sugary treats with her coffee, seeing as she'd barely slept the night before, apparently a commonality of the day.

Garcia didn't have to wait long for the sharp knock on her door that announced Derek Morgan's presence. She'd known he'd need a pep talk at least before his first day of the subtlety love game kicked off.

"Come iiin!" She called.

"Hey, there, baby girl." Morgan greeted easily and practically threw himself into the extra chair she had in her lair. "Damn, girl, did you get any sleep?"

"Truthfully, no."

"And why the hell not?"

"I lost track of time. I don't know how it happened." She told him innocently, but he just stared at her with raised eyebrows.

"Riiiight."

"Oh, damn you profiling meanie face." She snapped. "I just had a really hard time with that last case. We all did, I know that. But you know me, I'm all bubbly, rainbows and butterflies. I believe in the good in people, and when we have cases like that one, my very foundation for life is rocked." Garcia fiddled with one of her fuzzy pens. "Plus, I started thinking of my favorite chocolate man, and my favorite vanilla man, and it just got me all sorts of excited."

"Okay, I understood the first reason, but not so much the second."

"Omg! Hot!"

Morgan smiled pensively at the ceiling. "Yes, yes I suppose it would be."

"And it _will_ be." She smiled wickedly and stood. "Now, help me deliver these cupcakes to the rest of my pretties."

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"Cupcakes?" Reid's face lit up when he spotted the full container on Prentiss' desk. She sat with a cupcake half stuffed in her mouth and she hurried to make herself more lady like when she heard his voice.

"Hey, Reid. You seem pretty chipper today." Prentiss commented happily through a mouthful of cupcake, watching Reid stuff his messenger bag under his desk.

"Cupcakes?" Reid repeated hopefully.

"Patience is a virtue." Prentiss teased. Reid glowered at her and she almost bought it. "Relax, Garcia has a whole butt load of 'em." As if on cue Garcia rounded the corner, Morgan beside her with a stack of containers five high.

"Thanks hunk man." Garcia slapped his arm and grabbed the container off the top. "For you, boy genius." The blonde bounced over to Reid who had been staring at the treats longingly.

"Ohmygosh." Reid grabbed it and opened it immediately, he was a huge fan of anything sugary, especially anything Garcia baked. "Thank you so much, Garcia. You are the most perceptive, intelligent, mystical, oracle of all power and knowledge." Garcia gave a rare blush at Reid's words.

"You seem in a better mood today." She commented kindly.

"You bring me a container of cupcakes and expect me not to be in a better mood? Did you know that eating chocolate used to be considered a temptation of the devil? The U.S. collectively eats 100 pounds a second!" Reid rushed out before stuffing a triple chocolate cupcake in his mouth. Garcia laughed and mussed his hair.

"Okay, hot mama. Let's get the rest of the sure to be dragging ass agents their sugary treats too." Morgan nudged her along with his foot since his arms were too full.

With a stop at Rossi's office who looked bemused but pleased, and at Hotch's who tried to look stern but the light in his eyes when he took the offered container told no lies, the pair made it to JJ's office, both smiling like giddy school children.

"Wow, thanks, Garcia!" JJ took the container greedily and opened it to take in the designs Garcia had made with the frosting and sprinkles. JJ looked up at the two when they didn't make their immediate leave and quirked an eyebrow. "What's got you two on loony moon?"

"It's a top secret mission." Garcia provided, and Morgan nodded solemnly. "But you will know someday, depending on our success."

The blonde shook her head and smiled warmly. "I'm not sure I really want to know until you determine your success or failure." She laughed softly and perused over the cupcakes again. "Now, close the door behind you so I don't have to be oggled at while I eat. You know I hate that."

All of the cupcakes delivered, Morgan began to mull it around in his mind how to get out of his office, and down to the desks below, or even get Reid to come up to his office. They had never finished their conversation in the break room, and he had a feeling it still hung in the air. Ah, yes, the break room. That was a for sure place to run into the boy genius. He usually got refills of coffee every half hour.

With a confident stroll, Morgan began his walk to the break room. He was disappointed to see Reid sitting at his desk, hunched over some file. He'd have to dink around in the break room for awhile, but that was all well and good, he did that when he couldn't stand another file anyways.

With deliberately slow movements, Morgan set about brewing another pot of coffee, telling himself that this one couldn't be fresh. Still, no Reid. So he began to move even slower as he added cream and sugar he normally didn't take with his coffee, and still no Reid. Finally he began to search the cupboards at a sloth's pace, pretending to be in search of something.

"You'll never complete the hunt at that pace." Finally, Reid's voice carried softly through the room and Morgan practically sprang back up to full height.

"I don't think what I was looking for would be under there anyway." Morgan wiggled his eyebrows up and down in Reid's direction, but the younger man seemed oblivious.

"What were you looking for?"

Morgan opened his mouth, but couldn't think of an answer to that besides "you", so he steered the subject in the another direction. "How are you?"

Reid's eyebrows shot up in bemusement. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"You know why I asked, Reid." Morgan pointed out and took a sip of his coffee. Way too creamed up and sugared, but he took another sip anyway.

True, Reid did know why Morgan had asked. Their conversation about Reid's recent depression had never been completed, but Reid was truthfully feeling better. Maybe it was the two weeks of almost constant distraction on their last case, or maybe it was all the thinking he had done the night they finally came home, or maybe both. No matter the reason, Reid had decided to accept the fact that he may never get to experience being with the man he loved intimately, but he could at least enjoy the time he had him as a friend.

"Morgan, I really appreciate that you're so concerned about me, but I am honestly feeling much better. I think I just needed someone to shake me out of feeling sorry for myself, so for that, I thank you." Reid explained and scratched behind his ear, not having long enough hair to tuck it back anymore.

"I'm glad to hear it," Morgan gave him a small smile. He wasn't completely convinced, but it would have to do for now. "So, what's my reward?"

"Modest now, aren't we?" Reid mused and his eyebrows shot up.

"You know you wouldn't like it if I were modest." Morgan winked and Reid gaped at him slightly. "I wouldn't leave your mouth hanging open like that, it sends out a hard to refuse invitation."

With a look that was a cross between befuddlement and panic Reid snapped his mouth shut. He opened it again to say something, but he didn't know what to say, so he closed it again.

"Rendered the doctor speechless and looking dumbstruck, check. Not the way I wanted to do it the first time, but it'll do." Morgan grinned wolfishly.

With a glower Reid finally found his voice. "Yes, well, I'll leave looking dumbstruck to you from now on. It suits you much better than I." The doctor turned on his heal and stalked out of the break room.

"Hmmm. Feisty." Morgan said to himself. He had to admit a pissed off Reid was kind of sexy.

The knowledge of the files stacked on his desk should've had Morgan trudging up to his office, but instead he perched on the side of Reid's desk and watched him intently.

"Is there some sort of bother Spencer Reid day I don't know about?" The genius remarked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Morgan replied in false innocence. He grabbed the stress ball off Reid's desk and threw it from one hand to the other. Reid decided to ignore him. Silence stretched out for awhile before Morgan leaned his head closer to Reid's. "Watcha dooooing?" Morgan had to admit, he wasn't as much showing his emotions for Reid now as just bothering him. His glare was too cute.

"Would you go do your job?" Reid growled and flipped open the next file in his stack.

"But I enjoy your presence much more than my work." Morgan leaned in a little closer and Reid tipped his chair backwards.

"Do personal bubbles mean anything to you?"

"Maybe I just like the feel of yours?"

Reid stood and slammed his hands palm down on his desk. Morgan couldn't do this to him. He couldn't make tantalizingly sexual remarks to his face right after he had accepted that their friendship would never move forward to something more. "I swear, Derek Morgan. If you do not leave me alone-"

"Do I get a rant? I've missed those."

With a exasperated cry Reid snatched up his files, turned heal, and fled to JJ's office for some solitude while he worked. Morgan couldn't help but watch Reid's ass as it moved away from him. He sighed and shoved himself off the man's desk.

"Seriously, Morgan? _Is_ there some sort of bother Spencer Reid day the rest of us weren't made aware of?" Prentiss piped up from behind Morgan. "Because you just successfully pissed him off."

Mentally cursing himself, Morgan went back to his office to pick at his work. Probably was for the best, he didn't want to be here all night, and with the way Reid's ass was wagging around in the back of his mind, he'd be cutting it close already.

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Thankful that another case hadn't cropped up, Morgan was fixing himself his first home made meal in far too long, Clooney close on his heals as he moved around the kitchen.

Although Morgan felt slightly guilty that he had caused Reid to storm off, he also felt slightly exasperated. He had never said anything that hinted so much at his feelings for the young genius as he had earlier that day. He had been pretty sure that although he had staged his comments on the side of humor, Reid would have had to catch a slight hint. Unfortunately, Morgan didn't know that Reid felt like he was being tantalized with things he couldn't have, not hinted that they were right at his feet.

Timer set Morgan leaned against his counter and stared at his kitchen table. What a lonely night, dinner all by himself. He had invited Garcia over, but she was spending the night with Kevin.

"Maybe I should invite him over?" He asked Clooney who wagged his tail. It wasn't uncommon for Morgan and Reid to hang out. They were two single guys with no children and had demanding jobs, so they usually were equally lonely, sexual encounters excluded.

Deciding that although Reid may still be pissed at him, it was always worth a try.

"Morgan, you better not be calling to try to grate on my nerves, or I swear." Reid's voice was tight with caution and residual anger.

"I'm really sorry, Reid. I didn't mean to push your buttons so much. I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner? It's home maaade." He hoped the bribe would be enough.

"Fine. But just know that if it had been take out, I would've said no." And the line went dead.

Morgan grinned and shook his head before looking back at Clooney. "Well, he said yes. Not a very happy yes, but a yes." He scratched the German Sheppard behind his ears and stood in wait.

Luckily, Reid was a pretty timely person as long as it wasn't before nine in the morning, so Morgan didn't have to wait long.

"Pretty Boy! I'm glad you graced me with your presence." Morgan opened the door with a warm grin. Reid waved awkwardly and gave him a half smile. All Morgan could think about was ravishing him.

"You did use one of my known weaknesses." Reid pointed out and stepped inside. "And it smells delicious." Reid crouched down to take off his converse and Morgan caught himself wishing the slender man had bent over instead.

Clearing his throat Morgan turned to go back to the kitchen. "It's fettuccine alfredo. You can go ahead and pick something on T.V. or a movie, or something." Morgan called over his shoulder.

Normally, they ate in front of the T.V. when they hung out, so after Reid greeted Clooney, who was thankfully used to him, he sank down onto the sofa and grabbed the remote off the coffee table. He began to flip through the channels when he remembered he'd left his Star Wars DVDs there last time. With a devilish grin he launched himself at the DVD player and popped A New Hope in. It was a small payback, but it was payback non-the-less.

"Alright, the chef is done with his masterpiece!" Morgan announced boisterously. Reid rolled his eyes but stood from the sofa to dish himself up.

"Did you know that fettuccine alfredo was first made by Alfredo Di Lelio as a variation of fettuccine al burro at his first restaurant in 1914? It was located in Rome, Italy." Reid babbled as he scooped up his helping.

"Of course I didn't know that, but thanks." Morgan grabbed a couple pieces of garlic bread to accompany his pasta and followed Reid out of the kitchen, trying not to imagine Reid spouting off facts in the middle of the throws of passion.

After the two were settled on the couch Reid picked up the remote and turned the DVD player back on with a wicked grin.

"Aw, man. Come on, Star Wars?"

"Hey, _man_, you owe me after your asinine behavior earlier today."

"I've got an ass for you, and it's not connected to the sound inine." Morgan slurped up a noodle and gave into the sci-fi.

Reid snorted and took a large bite of his garlic bread. "You're lucky you're a good cook, or I'd slap you for that."

"Like to see you try."

"I'd bet you'd like it."

"Yeah, probably." Morgan grinned stupidly.

Eyes narrowed at his plate Reid stabbed at his pasta a little harshly, but Morgan didn't seem to notice.

"Wait, where would you be slapping me?"

"Surely, your face?"

"I've been told my ass is smackable." Morgan shrugged nonchalantly.

"Your face is definitely more slappable than your ass." Reid returned snidely.

"But you've never tried either, how would you know?"

"Oh for fucks sakes, Morgan!" Reid exclaimed and stabbed his pasta so hard the fork hit the plate with a horrid clanging sound.

Silence stretched between the two men for a couple of moments. Morgan eyed the fork in Reid's hand and after the fingers had unclenched significantly he deemed it okay to talk again.

"Sorry, I think it was just wishful thinking." Morgan mumbled and stood to get a beer. Reid's face shot up to watch his retreating form and he began to worry his bottom lip.

What kind of ride was Morgan taking him on?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry it took me awhile. Busy is me. Uploading between classes. Hope you enjoy this one =)

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Cake, more specifically a triple chocolate cake, sat on Reid's desk staring at him, so he stared back. He wasn't sure how it had gotten there, or who had put it there. He did know it had a card, but he was also aware that he wasn't sure if he wanted to read it.

So, Reid stood next to his desk, glaring at a cake as if it had wronged him terribly by existing.

"Hey, Reid, what's up?" Prentiss greeted as she shrugged off her coat.

The young genius didn't say anything. Instead, he raised a hand and pointed at the cake accusingly.

"Wow, that looks delicious." Prentiss' mouth watered, and she came around her desk to stand next to Reid. The look on his face reminded her of a lost puppy. "Why do you look so distressed over cake, Reid?"

"It has a card. There's a cake on my desk, in a box, and there's a card. It's sitting on my files, and it's a cake in a box with a card." Reid told her.

Prentiss smiled at him bemused. "Here, let's see what the card says. That's always a good first step where there are cards involved." She grabbed the card off the cake and Reid glared at her.

"I've decided that the only way you'll ever know how sweet you are, is if you could taste it." Prentiss began to feel a tug on her lips. "I don't think anything could be as sweet as you, but I'm pretty sure I got it close. I hope this brightens your day, beautiful." Prentiss finished reading and pursed her lips to keep herself from busting up into laughter.

Reid's face wasn't helping Prentiss keeping her composure. His eyebrows were screwed up, one arched, and one furrowing. His eyes had grown as wide as quarters, filled with a slight horror, and slight confusion. His mouth hung slightly open and his whole face had gone red.

The combination of the words in the card and Reid's face only allowed Prentiss twenty seconds of leashed composure before she doubled up with howling laughter. She bent over and grabbed her sides, laughing at her shoes.

"Oh my gosh, Reid. Someone's got a major crush on you! I hope you're as sweet as this cake!" Prentiss howled some more and Reid's face turned furious.

"Shut up." Reid spat at her and moved the cake over to get at his files. It had been a very pleasant, yet corny, card. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not. On one hand, someone expressed interest in him in a very cordial way. On the other hand, he was in love with someone else, and the sender of the cake had just successfully humiliated him, and it was probably going to continue through the rest of the day.

As if on cue, a dark skinned, cocky agent strolled into the bullpen. Reid flicked open a file and began to get busy, as if his work had ever stopped Morgan from bothering him before.

"Of course, he just had to look over here." Reid grumbled at the file and felt one of his fists clenching, ready for the teasing to start.

"What's this? Cake?" Morgan leaned over and opened the box. "Damn, that looks good." Reid had to admit he agreed it looked delicious. "Where'd this come from?"

"Reid has an admirer." Prentiss sniggered and before Reid knew it she had swiped the card he had stuffed in his pocket. Reid cried indignantly and jumped to his feet, but it was too late. The mushy card already lay in the hands of Derek Morgan.

The chocolate skinned man read it, his eyebrows doing a funny dance of emotions as he did.

"That's some cheesy shit." He shrugged and handed the card back to Reid who watched him wearily through the corner of his glaring eyes, waiting for the teasing to begin. "Kinda nice though, right?"

The young genius didn't know how to respond to that. Had Morgan been body snatched? He stared down at the card and flipped it between his fingers. "Yeah, I guess."

"And, I'm sorry Reid, but a little hilarious." Morgan chuckled.

"I was expecting you to howl like a hyena like Ms. Nosey over here." Reid motioned his head towards Prentiss who made a who me face.

"Are you going to try it?" Morgan stared at Reid intently, but the younger agent wasn't paying attention, too caught up staring at the card again.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I think I will." Reid decided. What could it hurt? It looked delectable, and he couldn't very well throw away a whole cake just because he didn't want to return this person's feelings. That would be a waste of a good cake. "Why don't we all have some?" He glanced around and smiled weakly. Everyone having some would make it less personal, he hoped.

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Colorful cupcakes rested on the side of Hotch's desk. He had somehow managed to forget them when he'd left in a hurry the night before for dinner with Beth. After waiting through a whole work day and kicking himself all night for forgetting them, he was having a hard time resisting them. He glared at the file and then up at his closed office door, and then the open blinds. He couldn't very well close them to enjoy the baked treats, but how much crap would he get if his agents witnessed him enjoying a pretty pink cupcake?

He opened the lid and began to look at which cupcake would look the least silly. Garcia's baking was always superb, and the temptation was too great. He leaned closer and raised his eyebrows at the different designs she had drawn with icing. There was one with a dog, a flower, a heart, a sun, and…boobs? Hotch smiled slightly and picked the boobs.

A knock on his door interrupted his balanced breakfast and he voiced around his baked treat, "come in."

"We've got a case," JJ announced and set the file in front of him. "Have you tried the chocolate cream filled ones yet?"

"There's chocolate cream filled ones?" Hotch peered eagerly into his container. "How can you tell which ones?"

JJ raised her eyebrows with wide eyes and walked stiffly out the door, choosing not to poke fun at Hotch's strange behavior.

"Round table ago!" JJ spoke from the balcony down to the members of the bullpen before gathering Morgan from his office.

"How bad is it?" Morgan inquired, his voice unusually light.

"As good or bad as serial murders can get." JJ said, "what's got you in a good mood?"

"I love cake!" Morgan replied with zest, and raised his arm forward and up into the air, palm to the sky. "Seriously, you should've had a piece of lover boys cake, so good." He nodded to JJ and she shook her head with a smile. She had come to join the crew and read the card as well, but was much more excited than jeering unlike most of their friends had been.

Reid was racing towards them before sliding to a halt in front of the round table room. "Now, you must answer these questions three-"

"And cut." Rossi smirked and budged in front of them.

"You are seriously lacking in the fundamental attitude of enjoyment in the work place." Reid replied as he sat in his usual spot.

"I'd double check why those fraternization rules were implemented if you think I'm no fun at work." Rossi winked and Reid shuddered before averting his eyes to the desk.

"Okay team, here's the low down." Garcia clicked a button on her remote and a couple of pictures appeared on the television screen. "Reid has received a cake with a very cheesy, lovely, card-"

"Garcia." Hotch scowled.

The bubbly tech kitten gave him an apologetic smile. "Fine. No romance, straight to the horror, such as is our job. Two bodies in one week, all died of asphyxiation. One still missing."

"They were suffocated with food?" Prentiss asked, and looked up from her tablet.

"Yes, autopsy showed that they were forced to eat a massive amount of food. They were found with food stuffed in their mouths."

"So when they got too full, he attempted to stuff it down their throat, but ended up choking them." Morgan commented.

"That's a new one." Reid's brow furrowed. They all looked to him to see if he had any ideas, but he was focused on the file, rereading it for the third time.

"We'll have to figure out the connection with food if we're going to figure anything out." JJ inputted and the team all nodded.

"Wheels up in 30, be ready to exchange ideas about the signature on the jet." Hotch stood and they all disbursed in the all too familiar routine.

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"What're you thinking Reid?" JJ inquired as she moved through the information on her tablet.

"Well…All the victims were unreasonably skinny. Do we know how much they weighed before the abduction and after?" Reid's face held an expression of curiosity.

"There wasn't a lot of time between abduction and the dumping of the bodies." Hotch replied.

"So they were underweight when they were kidnapped. That's gotta be a part of victimology." Morgan said, he couldn't help but let his eyes wander to Reid's face, and he found himself staring at the beautiful angles and how adorable he looked when his eyebrows knitted closer together and his eyes narrowed, as he burrowed himself into concentration.

"Um, what's up?" Reid's voice was unsure and Morgan grinned.

"I'm trying my hand at mind reading." The dark skinned man wiggled his fingers in Reid's face.

"Yeeaah. So, death by eating? Could it be sexual?" Prentiss interjected.

"Ooo, you like the kink, eh?" The jab came easily to Morgan and Prentiss shot him a glare, while Reid raised his eyebrows.

Hotch's glare cut off the verbal jabs, "JJ, Reid, I want you to go to the coroner. Go over the autopsy reports in detail with him. Rossi, Prentiss. I want you to go to the dump sites, Morgan and I will go to the abduction sites."

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"There's some ante mortem bruising on the wrists of all three bodies. The angle suggests that they were tied behind their back. There was also bruising on the inside of the upper arm."

"Like they were tied to a chair?" Reid asked.

"Yes, it definitely could be caused by that. There was also a large wound to the back of both of their heads, but other than that the only other injury was tearing to the stomach from the amount of food forced in such a short period of time, and the asphyxiation." The coroner finished.

"Blitz attack for sure," JJ commented, and the two thanked the man before they turned to leave.

Sunlight wrapped itself invitingly around the two agents as they stepped out of the office, and Reid hummed happily at the sensation. He hated the cold climate of the morgue and was glad to feel the rays of sun rippling over his skin.

"Not to say I'm not happy about the mood change, but you've been dragging your chin on the ground for like a month, what's got springs on your shoes?" JJ asked, and climbed into the driver's side of the SUV. .

"Did you know that smiling releases endorphins and makes you feel better, even if it's a fake smile?"

"Are you saying your faking happiness?"

"Maybe, yes, no. Lets just say I'm done feeling sorry for myself and I'm trying to move on with life."

"What were you feeling sorry for yourself about?" JJ growled, a protective glint flashing in her eyes.

"It's not important Jayje. I'm okay, really." Reid gave her one of his gentle, soft, smiles, and her heart melted a little.

"Fine, but I'm watching you." She pointed at her eyes and then at him before putting the car into gear.

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"I could use another cupcake…" Hotch grumbled under his breath.

"What?" Morgan grinned, but Hotch shook his head and the darker agent dropped it.

"So, these were the last places the victims were reported being seen." Morgan started, "the first two were near inpatient centers, but there's not one around here." Morgan spread his arms as if he could demonstrate his statement.

"Besides the seclusion, there isn't really a commonality yet." Hotch agreed, "we'll need to have Garcia pull up what's in the areas."

"Well, JJ said that it was definitely a blitz attack. So, he's either not physically built, or he's got a handicap." Morgan began, "he came up behind right here and brought her down. He must have been parked nearby. Twenty feet each way and it isn't so secluded anymore."

"Why would she come so close to a parked car in a secluded area at night?" Hotch put the question into the air.

"Maybe, she knew the guy?"

"Or, she didn't view her as a threat."

"You think we've got a female unsub?"

"I know it doesn't happen a lot, but issues with food and body image are more prevalent to females than males."

Morgan agreed and the two made their way back to the SUV, it was time to reconvene with the team.

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By the time the agents had made it to their hotel it was nearly midnight. That didn't stop the agents from staying up just a little later, for various different reasons.

Hotch had the room to himself for awhile since Rossi had gone to a 24 hour diner down the road for some "real food". Hotch ended up on the phone in a very sexy conversation with Beth, which he knew was very unprofessional, but no worse than what his agents were probably doing. His hypothesis was true seeing as Prentiss and JJ, although they knew it was not allowed on cases, had a few drinks from the mini bar in their room and watched a chick flick until they passed out.

In the room at the end of the hall Morgan was stripped down to a tee and briefs, mindlessly focused on the television, and Reid sat fully clothed on the floor with his case file strewn about on the floor around him.

Risking it, Morgan turned his head to watch Reid work. He couldn't believe the man had only loosened his tie and taken off his shoes. What he couldn't fathom more was how Reid did this every night they were on a case. Morgan wasn't sure Reid ever turned his brain off. He was probably going over the file in his dreams.

"Reid, you should really just relax. It'll help."

"It helps you, Morgan. It doesn't help me." Reid replied in monotone, not looking up from the words and pictures around him.

"Please, Reid. It cannot be healthy that you do this every time."

"And it cannot be healthy for you to pester me every time I do it." Reid's face didn't break out of the concentration it was set in.

It was true, Morgan tried to get Reid to stop reviewing the case file into the night every case they shared a room, and always to no avail. It was probably time for a different approach.

With a lopsided smile Morgan hoisted himself off his bed and came over to sit next to Reid. "So, what can I help you with then?"

Reid leaned backwards and looked at Morgan incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"If you're not going to stop and hang out with me over there, then I'm going to come hang out with you over here and help you out."

"I'm sure this is just another attempt to further test my decreasing sanity." Reid grumbled and shifted some of the papers, trying to ignore the way Morgan's scent sent his heart racing.

With a frown Morgan picked up one of the papers and began to read it over. Apparently the younger of the two had accepted Morgan wasn't moving, because he continued to stare at one of the pictures.

It was 2:30 in the morning when Reid was finally satisfied with the progress they'd made. Reid couldn't help the warm feeling crawling in his gut at how patient and helpful Morgan had been. He hadn't even poked fun at him about his cake. He gave a stifling yawn and clambered into his bed without taking off his day clothes.

Morgan turned the bathroom light on and left the door open a crack for Reid. He was climbing into his own bed when he heard Reid's voice, small and shy.

"Thank you, Morgan."

"Your welcome, Pretty Boy."

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"Alright, are you ready?" Reid held out his hands palm downwards to his team and they all nodded. "Okay, so each one of the dump sites is in a suburban neighborhood." He began, and pointed out the three blue pins in his geographical profile. "And all three abduction sites have been in the city. Garcia and I got together and there is not one commonality between the three of them business wise, buuut…" He paused.

"Get on with it Reid," Morgan laughed, even though he knew where Reid was going from their previous late night.

"Dramatic effect." Reid whispered and the team couldn't help but smile, even Hotch's lip quivered. The site of a energetic Reid warmed everyone's hearts.

"The first two abduction sites were near inpatient clinics for eating disorders. We can gather that either she had an eating disorder, or someone close to her did." Reid licked his lips and continued, "so Garcia and I looked up other things dealing with eating disorders in the third area."

"Like what?" Prentiss interrupted and Reid glowered at her.

"I'm getting there, tsk tsk." Reid took in a breath, "buffets are very popular for bulimics because they binge, then purge. Also drug stores because some eating disorders are accompanied by a insane amount of diet pills. Lastly, there was a morgue in the area, so we clued that in since eating disorders can lead to death."

"Okaaay," JJ stood from her chair and made her way to the board, observing the different colored push pins. "So, her story begins with in patient, and her trigger has something to do with the last abduction site."

"Yes!" Reid exclaimed just as the phone began to ring in the middle of the table. Hotch pushed speaker and Garcia's voice filled the room.

"Alright my hot, amygdala using, overly attractive agents! You have asked the fountain of knowledge for answers, and answers you shall receive!" Garcia paused, and Hotch cleared his throat. "Sorry, sir, dramatic effect."

"Seems to be a common theme of the day." Hotch replied, and Reid smiled apologetically.

"Well, I cross referenced the drug stores, the morgue and the buffets of the last abduction site. The buffets didn't really clue in anywhere, but a common patron of the drug store down the street, was also a unlucky patron of the morgue. She died of a heart attack. Her autopsy showed malnourishment, and an over usage of diet pills. They think that the diet pills were what finally did her in."

"Name, siblings, parents?" Hotch demanded.

"Yes, sir. She was, Abigail Thompson. She was an only child. It looks like her High School was greatly concerned about her weight, but her Dad always steadfastly refused to do anything about it. According to that same High School her Mom, Barbara Thompson, was overbearingly affectionate and protective. Abigail was taken into state custody after social services were called in because of her Dad's refusal to admit her to treatment. Her Mom has been on anti-depressants ever since, until two weeks ago, the anniversary of Abigail's death."

"She probably blames everyone for her death…The state was supposed to help her." JJ spoke softly.

"Address Garcia." Hotch demanded, his patience wearing thin.

"8721 Jacksonville Road North." Garcia replied quickly before Hotch ended the call.

"Alright everyone, let's go." Hotch lead his team to the SUV's, and they all began the process of gearing up for the raid.

Morgan stared at Reid through the rearview mirror as often as he could as he dodged through traffic. He wasn't using his sirens, only his lights, so they wouldn't alert the unsub.

"Morgan, JJ, Rossi, take the front. Reid, Prentiss and I will take the back." Hotch instructed as the SUV pulled up to the house, and all the agents immediately moved into action, guns drawn. Morgan glanced anxiously at Reid as the tall man disappeared around the side of the house, but snapped his head back into focus as they came up onto the front door.

The front team waited until they heard Prentiss' voice through their ear pieces, "in position. Go." Prentiss and Morgan kicked in the doors simultaneously and the agents stormed the house.

Reid felt his heart thrumming as he watched Hotch and JJ head upstairs to clear it, Rossi and Prentiss cleared the base level, which left Morgan and Reid to take the basement, which as Reid figured it, was the most probable place to find their unsub.

Neither of them were surprised to find a middle aged woman in the middle of the room. She stood behind a dining room chair, a girl tied to it, knife to her throat, a dining room table in front of her, with the most extensive spread of food Reid had seen in a long while laid out upon it.

"Ms. Thompson, drop the knife." Morgan demanded quietly, subconsciously shielding Reid with his body. Reid watched as Barbara's arm twitched and he sucked in a breath.

"Barbara…" Reid shifted so she could see him. "I know you were trying to help those other girls, and I know you're trying to help her too." Reid spoke gently and quietly, like he would talk to his mother, he smiled at the thought of her.

"You…You understand?" Barbara's arm shook and Morgan tightened his aim.

"Yes, yes. I understand." Reid kept his tone gentle. "You just wanted to help them be free, and healthy, like your daughter." He could hear the rest of the team at the top of the stairs, they couldn't interject without startling the woman. Reid took a cautious step down another stair.

The woman's clench on the knife tightened and she threaded her finger's through the girl's hair. "Come any closer and I will slit her throat."

Reid cursed himself mentally, he shouldn't have taken another step down those stairs until Barbara had dropped the knife. He slowly retreated back up a step, and kept his gun trained on the deranged lady.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"You're trying to take her away, and you're not going to help her at all! She'll be worse! I'm taking care of her!" She screamed at the two agents, and Reid knew this was the last stretch.

"Her parent's want to care for her. Her Mom wants to take care of her. Maybe you could help her do that?" Reid felt a pang of regret and guilt in his gut for giving the woman false hope, but if it would get her to step away and save two lives, he knew it had to be done.

Barbara stared at him for a long moment, before her face softened and she dropped the knife and held up her hands in surrender. Morgan moved down the steps to cuff her, and then Reid saw it. Barbara's stark blue eyes widened, she reached down…

"Morgan!" Reid yelled, but Morgan's gun was holstered. A shot rang out through the small basement. Barbara dropped to the floor. The elder agent turned wide eyes to Spencer, who stood, gun still outstretched, his breath even. His eyes held such a great sorrow Morgan wanted to wrap him up in his arms right then and there, but couldn't.

"She didn't trust you…She didn't expect you to come closer, she went for the knife…" Reid explained softly, Prentiss and Hotch rushed down the stairs now that the confrontation was over, untied the girl and helped her back passed Reid and Morgan.

"Pretty Boy, you had to do it."

"It's hard, but I know that."

"I know…" Morgan said softly and watched Reid climb the stairs with his head bowed to stare at his feet.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. It keeps me going and inspired. =) It also helped me realize that I put a lot of food in these chapters, and that I have no excuse or explanation for that. =P This ones a little shorter than normal, but I'll try to post the next chapter a little quicker to make up for it.

Again, thank you for all the reviews! I always enjoy them, they're kind of like puppies to me. ^_^

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"A failed attempt at restoring my brains functionality." Reid grumbled and flung his blankets violently off of him. He may be used to sleep deprivation, but this was ridiculous. He just wanted to rest, he was so exhausted.

But every time he almost drifted off all he could see was Barbara's stark blue eyes softening gratefully before widening in panic, and then he'd hear his own gunshot booming through the air before her stark blue eyes slid from his mental vision.

Cold hardwood froze his feet when they touched the floor, but he didn't move. He sat on the edge of his bed, head bowed, staring at his hands. With a long shudder he finally stood and stumbled from his bedroom to flop onto the couch. The hopeless feeling of not being able to escape his own subconscious bore down above his head.

And then there was Morgan. Reid was as confused as ever. The elder man was dropping so many sexual hints and teases that Reid thought he was going to lose it. He was sure Morgan was messing with him, and it was infuriating. How could he ignore the comments any longer before he took Morgan up on one of his false offers?

A strange series of tones and beeps brought Reid out of his head and he looked around him unenthusiastically. Oh, yes, his phone. He leaned forward with no haste and grabbed it off the table, one missed call from one minute ago. Oops. Reid flipped the phone open and he stared at the phone like it had grown another head. He stared at the screen a moment longer before deciding to ignore it. Morgan must have butt dialed him or something.

When his phone rang for the second time he knew it couldn't be the same mistake twice, especially since it was one in the morning.

"Reid here." He wasn't surprised to hear the dead quality of his voice.

"Hey, Reid. Sorry to call so late." Morgan answered and bit back asking how his friend was.

"Yeah. What do you need?" Reid asked bluntly and scrubbed a hand over his face.

"I know you can't sleep."

"And?" Reid sighed in exasperation and repeatedly scrubbed his hand through the back of his hair.

Silent for a moment Morgan sighed right back. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay…Sorry. I'll let you sit and stew by yourself."

"I'm sorry Morgan. I'm just so drained. I just want to sleep." Reid admitted hesitantly. After Morgan had correctly accused him of letting things eat him up, Reid was making a conscious effort to voice his feelings more often.

Relieved that Reid had chosen to confide in him Morgan rubbed the back of his head and smiled bashfully. "Um…Can I help?" He offered, not sure what he expected Reid to say.

A shaky laugh came from Reid's parted lips. "I don't know how you'd do that really." He said, while the thought of Morgan's strong arms encircling him and holding him all night ran through his brain.

"I don't know. Um. I could…" Morgan shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed. "Stay on the phone with you?" Morgan paused and shook his head harder. "No. You should come over. Or I'll come over there. We'll have a sleep over."

"A sleep over?" Reid's voice was unsure and cautious.

"Yeah. Like with popcorn and some harmless movies with happy endings." Morgan held back the joke about another kind of happy ending and sucked on his cheek.

Reid was worrying his bottom lip between his teeth like a mad man. The nerves in Morgan's tone had to be because he didn't want Reid to take the offer the wrong way. Reid was uncertain. Could he have a sleep over with Morgan without letting his feelings froth to the surface? Especially in his mental state?

"Come on, Reid." Morgan laced his voice with as much comfort as he possibly could.

"Okay…I'll come to you I guess." Reid said anxiously. He didn't want to do this, but a night with Morgan? Even if he was asleep in the man's guest room, just being in the same vicinity as Morgan made him feel better.

"Good." Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on my way." Reid mumbled and snapped his phone shut.

What kind of ride was Morgan taking him on?

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The soft, hesitant knock on Morgan's front door rang through his still and silent house as if Reid had thundered his fist against the wood. Morgan leapt to his feet and jogged to the door to let Reid in for the second time that week. He couldn't help but feel elated.

When he opened the door he found a very lost looking Spencer Reid. Dark circles had painted themselves under his eyes, and his eyebrows were screwed up almost as if he was pain. His hands tapped unconsciously on his legs, and when he stepped into the house his eyes darted everywhere but Morgan's face.

"No offence Spencer, but you look like shit." Morgan used the man's first name for the first time since the day he had decided to make Reid his.

"No offence, but fuck off." Reid returned and tossed his slippers onto the shoe mat by the door. Morgan was surprised not only by Reid's language, but also by the fact that he even owned a pair of slippers.

Deciding to ignore Reid's unthankful words he motioned him to follow him to the kitchen. "Come on, stage one, ice cream sundaes."

"What do ice cream sundaes help?" Reid's eyebrows knitted together in that adorable way that made Morgan want to lick his face.

"Don't you indulge in comfort foods? I mean, you are addicted to sugar." Morgan played cautiously and began to unload his cupboards of any sprinkles, syrups and other sugary items he could find.

"Well, kind of I guess. I just never use it for comfort, more out of necessity." Reid shrugged and hopped up to take a seat on one of the counters, not being able to stop himself from his eyes lingering on Morgan's behind for a few moments.

With a shake of his head Morgan set down a jar of maraschino cherries. "So, you don't have a comfort food of choice?"

"No, I just generally enjoy sugar." Reid shook his head. "Do you?"

Morgan turned and smiled fondly at his ceiling. "Yes. Salty, popcorn and flavor blasted goldfish. Sweet, peanut butter oreos mixed into chocolate mint ice cream."

The face that Reid made to the combination of sweets was between desire and disgust, and brought a broad grin to Morgan's face.

"I got it from my mom. Leave me alone." Morgan chuckled and opened the ice cream. "And now, I'm going to teach you what my mom taught me. Put everything and anything into your ice cream, and it will make the world taste sweeter."

Reid couldn't help but think how corny that was, but he hopped off the counter and joined Morgan at the ice cream buffet. His mouth watered at all the sugary sweets laid out before him.

The elder of the two looked at the younger out of the corner of his eyes and witnessed a flash of pink darting out across his lips. Great, now he was going to be thinking about his tongue flicking and licking around for the next five minutes.

Pride swelled Morgan's chest as he watched his friend pile on so many ingredients he began to worry if he'd end up puking. He had three scoops of ice cream, piled with oreos, pretzels, chocolate and caramel syrup, six cherries, topped with several kinds of sprinkles, and was that even strawberry syrup too?

"Are you sure you've never done this before?" Morgan teased, and with his own treat in hand he led Reid back to the living room.

"Hey, you put _me_ in front of a sugar buffet. Doesn't matter if I've down it before, sugar is like oxygen."

"I thought that was love."

"Well, you thought wrong." Reid shrugged and cuddled down onto the side of the couch he always occupied when visiting Morgan. He inhaled the scent of Morgan that permeated from the house and it sent a warm tingle of comfort across his skin.

Shaking his head Morgan continued with his plan. "Stage two, movies with happy endings, unrealistic or not, accompanied by comfy soft blankets and the like." Morgan shook out a blanket and turned to Reid who was looking at him dubiously.

"Where are these stages coming from?"

"My ma." Morgan had to remind himself that Reid's mom probably wasn't up for the task of doing things like this for her son.

Sucking on his cheek Morgan moved toward Reid and gently lay the blanket across his lap. Dark eyes met chocolate ones and strong hands tucked the blanket in around Reid's slender frame.

"Thanks," Reid mumbled shyly and began to stir the contents of his sundae together. Had Morgan really just tucked him in? What the hell was going on? Not that he hadn't liked the warmth that spread through his body from where Morgan had touched him, but what the hell?

After Morgan picked out a movie, he tucked himself in and began to wolf down his own sundae. A hesitant smile flickered on Reid's face as the movie started. Mallrats. The constant comedy of the movie was a good choice, and it didn't hurt that Reid actually liked the movie. How had Morgan known that?

Comfort coiled itself in Reid's stomach, along with the contents of his sundae. He had stuffed as much as he could into his face, but his bowl was still half full. He frowned at it and went to take another bite, but was cut off by Morgan's voice.

"You don't have to finish it if you can't."

"Sorry," Reid mumbled and Morgan smiled kindly. Reid shifted to stand and clean out his bowl but Morgan's hand shot out and grabbed his arm.

"Put it on the coffee table, you don't have to take care of that right now." Morgan nodded at the coffee table and Reid obediently set the bowl on it. The slender man shifted to curl into himself and licked his lips lazily.

Dim lighting and a full stomach wrapped Reid up and he felt himself beginning to doze off. Every once and awhile he'd jerk his head up, trying to stay awake and enjoy the movie and the company, but soon he lost the battle.

The darker skinned man found himself staring at the sleeping figure of the man he loved. Mission successfully completed, he allowed himself to relax fully into the sofa. He was just feeling his own impending sleep when he felt something softly fall against his shoulder. Blearily, he looked over to find a very passed out Reid cuddled against him. Morgan bit his cheek and contemplated the sleeping form for a moment before carefully moving his arm to wrap it protectively around the slender body next to his.

Heart jolting at the contact Morgan's face lit up in a lazy smile. Reid cuddled closer into the warmth of Morgan's body, and the burly man sighed in contentment. Was this Reid's subconscious speaking for him? Was his sleep betraying his comfort with Morgan and feelings for him? Or was he just cuddling up to Morgan because it was the closest body of warmth? What ever the reason, Morgan decided to bask in it before letting himself drift off into sleep at last.

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Sunlight dancing across his eyelids woke Reid up from one of the best nights rest he'd had in awhile. He slowly forced his eyes open and groggily looked around him. That's when he finally noticed he was cuddled up into Derek Morgan's chest, and one of the man's strong arms was wrapped around him.

Shit. Reid began to gently extract himself from Morgan's embrace and lifted himself silently from the couch, despite how much he wanted to stay right where he was. Morgan would not be happy if he woke up to find they had been cuddling in their sleep. It would be awkward, and Reid didn't want anything to do with that. He crept to the front door and then glanced back at Morgan with guilt.

How could he just sneak out in the morning after Morgan had gone through the trouble of making sure he had a good nights sleep? He couldn't. So, Reid stood rooted to the spot, worrying his bottom lip. Maybe he should just sit on the other side of the couch again and go back to sleep? Or at least pretend to be back asleep?

With mouse quiet footfalls, Reid brought himself back to the couch and slowly sank back down into it. Good, Morgan hadn't woken up. He slowly brought his feet up and cuddled back into the corner.

Sleep found the young man again, much to his surprise. Even more surprising was when he woke up his legs were laying across Morgan's lap and the man's hands were rested on his shins

With an exasperated grunt, Reid began to move his legs to avoid the situation again, but this time Morgan woke.

"Good morning, sleep well?" Morgan's voice was gruff, and his hands remained on Reid's legs. The slender man cleared his throat and shifted his legs to move again.

"Sorry, I must've stretched out in my sleep, I-"

"It's okay, I don't mind." Morgan stared at Reid meaningfully, but Reid missed the hint in the midst of his apprehension.

"Um. I've got some errands to run today." Reid went to move his legs again, but instead of just keeping his hands in place Morgan tightened his hold.

"We could go together, I've got some things to pick up too." Morgan's voice was steady, but soft.

Reid didn't know what to think. Was Morgan just touching him and being reassuring to be a good friend? Was this comfort in touching linked to the sexual comments he'd been making? Reid felt anger mounting in his chest. Why couldn't Morgan just say what he wanted from him? Then again, Reid had been living with his longing for the man for years and hadn't so much as uttered a syllable about it.

"That's okay." Reid mumbled and made to move again, but Morgan's hold didn't loosen. "I kind of need my feet to stand." The strong hands loosened their grip and Reid bit his lip before moving his feet to rest on the floor.

"Come on, man. Why are you running away?" Morgan asked. Reid observed the man's eyes and found a degree of hurt in them.

"I'm not running." Reid told him flatly and stood.

"Yes, you are."

"What do you want from me, Derek Morgan?" Reid snapped, not being able to contain himself anymore, despite the favor Morgan had done for him. "You are giving me signals and I don't think you realize what you're doing to me with those." Reid moved to the door and shoved his slippers on. "It's not that I don't appreciate the friendship, but jesus! You're blurring the line, and you don't even know it!"

"Reid, I-" Morgan's sentence was cut short when the door slammed. "Do know what I'm doing…" He trailed off to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I apologize for the fact that they're taking so long on getting to it, but I promise when they do I will have wonderful gooy, chocolate and vanilla sexiness. I want to pay close attention to all their firsts, so it ends up being kind of mushy too, but I'm working on dulling that down in the interest of reality and angst.

Running shoes hit pavement in a frenzied beat.

"You should've followed him, you idiot." Morgan huffed, his steps picked up more speed. "You. Should've. Followed. Him." He panted as he exerted his body to the edge.

But he hadn't. After the door slammed behind Reid he'd just sat there and stared at their two sundae bowls, half full with melted ice cream and other random ingredients. At first he'd been kind of pissed at Reid. If Reid saw the signs, then couldn't he make the connection?

That's when Morgan had realized that, no, he wouldn't have. Reid had lived most of his life thinking less of himself than he was worth. He'd also lived the duration of their friendship believing that Morgan was a lady's man, and therefore very, very straight. Morgan had never made any other notion otherwise, so why wouldn't Reid think that?

Sweat rolled off Morgan in torrents as he turned another bend of the park he liked to run at. Normally he would've taken Clooney with him, but this time he had gone solo.

Thoughts of Reid thinking that Morgan's flirting and hints were nothing more than a straight man bullshitting with his good friend ran through the muscular man's head. He felt his legs screaming at him to stop, but he pushed forward.

"Fuck." Morgan finally lightened his pace to a jog when he felt his legs about to give out on him. After letting his body wind down with a light jog for awhile he finally collapsed on a nearby bench.

Subtlety wasn't going to work. Not that he was good at it anyway. His history, and Reid's perceptions of both himself and Morgan, would not make it possible for Morgan to let Reid meet him halfway.

"At least I know he has some degree of feelings for me." Morgan continued to speak out loud to himself, his eyes wandering around the park as he thought about Reid's words before he'd left Morgan's house.

Enjoying the fresh air and the seclusion for a few moments longer Morgan hefted himself to his feet. Despite his muscles' extreme protest he decided to sprint home, take a nice hot shower, and hopefully get a hold of Reid.

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Papers littered Reid's coffee table and living room floor. He sat cross legged in front of the table, pen in hand, nose bent so close to the paper he could smell the ink. His hand scribbled frantically, and his brain completely focused on the math equations in front of him.

They weren't new equations to him. He'd solved them all before, but their familiarity and consistency brought comfort to him.

His handwriting grew more frantic and harsher as the redundancy of the equations left his brain open to wander elsewhere. His pen poked through the paper as his haste increased. He frowned at the paper, but continued, until the pen punctured another hole. He growled and threw the pen across the room.

"For a genius you are excessively idiotic." He told himself and rested his head in one of his hands. "You might as well have shouted at your straight friend that you wanted hot man sex with him." He cursed himself and let his head fall with a thud on the table.

Usually his Saturday mornings were much more productive, but he couldn't bring himself to leave his apartment. He'd even turned his phone off to avoid any invites from JJ, or pestering calls from Morgan that he was sure the man would be bombarding him with at some point in the day.

"Why can't he understand?" Reid asked his cat. Cobain stretched and came over to nuzzle Reid's leg. "Selfish, you are." Reid grumbled, but scratched his cat behind the ears before running his hand down his back and tail repeatedly.

With a frown Reid glanced around his apartment. He needed something to do. Something that kept his brain engaged that he hadn't read or solved multiple times. He looked at Cobain for guidance, but the cat was too all immersed in its petting to pay any mind to the man distributing it.

"Maybe I should go work out? It might seem weird if I show up at the FBI gym on a Saturday though. I usually go after work…" Reid scrunched his face at the thought of how many people would be there using the facility. Saturday was the most popular day for the gym.

He nixed his idea to release his sour energy at the gym and shoved himself to his feet. "Maybe I should bake? That's what Garcia does when she needs an outlet." He found himself staring at his almost empty cupboards, cursing himself for the first time at his neglect for groceries.

He opened his fridge and grumbled at the two beers he had left. "Fine. I'll be productive." He closed the door with vigor and made ready to run his errands.

Converse shoved on his feet and laced up, Reid snatched up his keys. "Wish me luck. You don't want me dying, or your wet food will never make it home. Freaking phenomenal Saturday so far." He slammed the door behind him.

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"Come on, Reid. Turn on your phone!" Morgan bellowed at his cell phone before finally tossing it carelessly on the coffee table. Clooney whined and stared at Morgan with pouty eyes.

Morgan scrubbed his hands over his face before letting them fall limp on either side of him. "Don't give me that look." He scolded his dog who knocked one of Morgan's hands with his head. The mocha skinned man shook his head, but conceded, and began to scratch behind the dog's ears. "At least you like me." He noted, and shot the phone a look like it was the inanimate object's fault Reid had turned his phone off.

When his phone started to buzz and ring Morgan gave a startled jerk, and scrambled to answer it. When he saw Garcia's name he couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

"Hey, Garcia." He winced at the tone of his voice and tried to qualm her worries before they started. "How's my sexy mama?"

"Oh, you think you are very clever, don't you? Why is Reid's phone off?" She demanded. "JJ, Prentiss, and I have been trying to invite him out shopping for the last hour."

"You three go shopping with Reid?" He asked amused.

"I go shopping with you."

"Yeah, but he goes out with all of you? Like a girls day at the mall?"

"Don't change the subject. Why is his phone off? I wanted to make sure he got some new clothes to show off."

"Let's just say he very rightfully believes I'm straight, and subtlety has done nothing but piss him off."

"Maybe I should go drag him out of his apartment and get him some retail therapy?" She suggested innocently.

"No. I don't need his brain filled with your nonsense ideas of what to do about the situation."

Garcia snorted. "He wouldn't talk to me about it if I threatened the life of his laptop."

"All the same, if his phone is off, he probably doesn't want to go shopping." Morgan told her sternly, despite the fact that he was thinking of going over there himself.

"Fiiiine." Garcia whined. "Maybe you'd like to come?"

"Hell. No." He told her, and as the sound of her laughter filled his ear he ended the call and went to dial Reid's number again.

Straight to voicemail, again. The man was going to drive him crazy. He needed to know he was okay, so he left a message this time.

"Hey, Reid. Um. I'm sorry about the last week. I'm sorry you feel that I'm obliviously stringing you along. That's not the case, I promise. Just please, call me back. I need to hear your voice. I mean, I need to know you're okay. Okay. Bye." Morgan gave his phone a bemused look. What kind of dumb message did he just leave Reid? What ever.

He opened his text inbox and found his messages with Reid, and left a message for him to call him back.

"Ugh! I'm going to fucking lose my mind!" Morgan slammed his fist on the table with more force than he intended. It felt good though, to let out his pent up frustration. With a tense gait he made his way to the basement to make good use of his punching bag. He wished he had a picture of his own face to tape on it.

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With the night came the rain. Reid didn't mind. He'd gotten some groceries, some more beer, and a couple of books from the library he hadn't read in awhile. It had been refreshing to not have his phone on, although he was sure if they'd gotten a case Hotch would've been pissed at the lack of available contact, but he'd been checking his e-mail and nothing had come up, so he sat on his couch with a beer and a book, his nerves calming a bit at last.

At first he didn't register the thundering on his door as someone trying to get his attention. When he finally realized he had a visitor his chest constricted, and anger frothed in his stomach. Didn't he get it? He wanted to be left alone.

"God dammit Morgan!" Reid cried and flung himself off the couch. "You stubborn mule!" He stomped to the door and flung it open. "What the hell do you want?"

The muscled frame standing in his doorway was soaked with rain. He was wearing a jogging outfit and no jacket. Reid tried to not let his eyes linger too long on the outline of the impressive muscles. Morgan's chest heaved with deep breaths, and his eyes were lit up with something between guilt and panic.

"Hey." Morgan said lamely, his voice tense.

"What do you want?" Reid repeated, his teeth clenched.

"The cake was from me." Morgan blurted and found he couldn't look directly at Reid anymore.

The young genius stared at Morgan perplexed. That mushy letter about his sweetness, and his beauty, had been from Derek Morgan? No, his ears could not be working.

"Um. Well, I want you to go out to dinner with me." Morgan's fists were clenching and unclenching. "Please, would you go out to dinner with me?"

Mouth agape, Reid quirked an eyebrow and stared at the dripping man on his doorstep. The man he'd been in love with for years, the man who he'd thought had been throwing jokes around carelessly, was the man that he now realized had been genuinely flirting with him.

"Please, I want to do this right. No more games. No more secret admirer bull." Morgan was staring at Reid intently. "I should've just asked you out like a man, but I wanted to let you meet me halfway. I wasn't sure if you liked me, but after this morning I was pretty sure you do, and now I'm not so sure any-"

"Hold on, just hold on." Reid closed his eyes and took in a breath through his nose, and then opened his eyes slowly with a slight wince. Morgan was still standing there. So, this was really happening. This was not a figment of his imagination. He let out a whoosh of breath. "Derek Morgan, you are a complete imbecile, and so am I-"

Reid cut himself off when Morgan took a step towards him. He put his hands on either side of the door frame and leaned forward. At first Reid looked like he might duck and run, but the slender man stayed firm. Morgan brought his face in closer and turned his head slightly until he finally found his lips against Reid's cheek. Softly, he left a small peck before he pulled away.

The soaked man stared decisively into Reid's eyes. They were cautious, but there was also a yearning there. A flash of Reid's pink tongue ran along his pouty, kissable lips. Morgan's own tongue mimicked the action and their mouths began to move towards each other, as if their faces were magnetized.

When their lips met it was light and delicate. They paused, lips barely together, and opened their eyes to take in the other man's face. Their gazes met and their kiss turned more fervent. Morgan moved his hands from the door frame and grabbed Reid by the waist, yanking him forward to mesh him against his wet body. Reid's arms came up to wrap around Morgan's neck, one hand gripping desperately to the base, their lips moved together in a fierce frenzy of pent up emotions and sexual tension.

Both men seemed to catch themselves at the exact moment, embarrassment, and reluctancy peeling them apart.

"Tomorrow night?" Morgan murmured against Reid's ear, subconsciously sucked on his cheek in his nervousness. Despite the passionate kiss, Reid still had a hard time believing any of it was happening, but he cut loose his inhibitions and leapt.

"Yes." Reid pulled back and finally cracked a unsure smile, his eyes downcast. Morgan resisted the urge to plant kisses over every inch of Reid's face and give a holler of happiness, and settled for a wild smile.

"Great! I'll pick you up around five?" Morgan's eyes were ablaze with relief, and Reid fought the feeling of elation building in his chest, and in his pants.

"Sounds good." Reid struggled to keep his voice as calm as possible as his chest stuttered, he didn't want to seem overly excited like some sort of starved for attention puppy.

.

"Can I just say one thing before I leave?"

"Why not?" Reid asked cautiously, waiting for Morgan to yell April Fools on him, despite the fact that it was May.

"You are beautiful." Morgan's grin turned almost giddy before he reigned in his charm. "I'll see you tomorrow." Morgan murmured, and turned to stroll down the hallway, fighting the urge to skip and sing, leaving a very speechless, motionless, and horny, Spencer Reid standing in his open doorway.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: So, this chapter gave me some grief. I hope you all like how it turned out.

"This is happening." Reid told Cobain. He was crouching down to look his cat in it's eyes, a feeling of disbelief gripping his stomach, combining strangely with the elated thumping in his chest. He stood to his full height and straightened his shirt nervously.

The young genius paced around his living room and wrung his hands. Maybe he was in some sort of deranged dream? Or part of a terrible cosmic joke? The man he was in love with, who he believed to be straight, had asked him out. It seemed ludicrous.

His phone rang and vibrated on his coffee table. He rushed over and stared at it for a second before answering with a tight happiness in his chest.

"Reid here!" He couldn't help the bounce in his voice and he struggled to control his breathing, and resist the urge to face palm.

"Hey, Spencer. I'm downstairs." Morgan told him.

"Okay, I'll be right down." Reid snapped his phone shut and felt his lips tugging upwards. He'd called him Spencer, so that meant it was okay to call him Derek. It was strange, how calling each other by their first names could bring Reid so much glee. He dismissed the thought and gathered his things.

When Morgan spotted Reid lightly jogging down the sidewalk towards his car he felt a bouncing in his chest that made him shift in his seat impatiently. He couldn't believe he'd tried subtlety because of his fear that his feelings might not be reciprocated. This was so much better.

Reid's hair was mussed in a just rolled out of bed way. His button up shirt skated just right over his chest. Morgan was relieved to see that he didn't wear another shirt under it like he usually did, but he did have on a black blazer that ended just over his buttocks, teasing him with the view of the way his trousers danced over his ass, and into those long legs.

With a charming grin Morgan hopped out of his car and came around to the passenger side door to wait for his date. His date. His smile broadened into a full Cheshire at the thought and as Reid approached he wondered what he should do. Would it be okay to kiss him again? Oh hell, he was going for at least a peck.

"Hey, there." Morgan greeted and Reid stopped in front of him awkwardly, the spontaneous feeling from the night before not gracing them with it's presence for the time being.

"Hey, um. How are you?" Reid toyed with the strap on his messenger bag. Morgan took a step forward and cautiously moved his hand to the small of Reid's slender back. He looked into Reid's eyes and the man blushed. He smiled reassuringly and cocked his head to the side to give Reid a peck on the cheek.

"You look wonderful." Morgan murmured, and pulled away from Reid's newly shaven cheek. The man's blush was much more prominent now. Morgan wanted to rub his cheek against it like a cat, but decided against it.

"Thank you, as do you, as always." Reid's blush deepened more as he tried to give Morgan a discreet once over. The man was wearing a long sleeved button up as well, with a suit jacket unbuttoned over it. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans to offset the formality of the jacket, and a silver chain hung around his neck. He was a sight to behold. He was Reid's sight to behold. Thrill gripped his innards at the thought. No, he wasn't his yet. This was a date. They hadn't discussed any formalities yet, and Reid was trying to not be too hopeful. Prepare to be disappointed.

After they'd stared at each other for a moment longer, Morgan took a step back and opened the passenger door for his date. Reid smiled awkwardly and climbed into the seat. Morgan shut the door and jogged to the other side of the car. It was time to get the night moving.

"So, what's your restaurant of choice?" Morgan glanced over at Reid as they pulled out of his apartment complex's parking lot.

"Oh, I thought you'd have one picked out."

"No, it's all on you."

"What if I say I have no idea?"

"I'd suggest the new steakhouse that opened up in the city." Morgan shrugged, deciding to help Reid along.

"Sounds good to me." Reid fiddled with his messenger bag. He didn't want there to be any unwanted, silences on this date. He wanted it to go as smoothly as possible, at least as smoothly as possible for a man such as himself.

The elder man seated next to him was thinking the same thing, but he wasn't the awkward type, so he decided to get some questions answered that he'd been thinking of for quite a while.

"So, you've had feelings for me for awhile?" He glanced over at Reid and back to the road. He wanted to read the man's facial expressions, but their lives were more important.

"Um, have you had feelings for me for awhile?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second." Reid retorted, not caring how childish it sounded. He didn't want to admit to Morgan he'd been pining after him for so long. He imagined he would sound like some lovesick teenager.

Morgan huffed and sucked on his cheek for a moment, thinking something along the same lines as Reid. "Fine, I'll go first, but only because I like you so much. Garcia tells me that I've liked you for four years, although I didn't know that. I first actually realized my feelings for you about two years ago. Well, my romantic feelings for you anyways."

The young genius visibly blanched, and that damned unforgiving blush began to light up his face again. "Um, what do you mean, what other feelings did you have?"

"You know damn well what I mean." Morgan growled, but when he glanced at Reid and the man was looking at him with the cutest damn pout so he conceded. "Sexual ones, okay? God damn lollipops…"

"Excuse me?"

"Reid, we've been exchanging glances for four years, two years into that you started sucking on lollipops. You are telling me you had no idea what you were doing to my dick?" Morgan asked bluntly, and turned to get on the freeway.

Silence ticked the seconds by and finally Reid spoke up. "Well, I'm not going to lie, I might've been a little hopeful that something would come out of it, even though I thought you were straight."

"You little devil." Morgan grinned.

"I should've just said something. I was a coward about it."

"Well, I have always been pretty visibly straight, save the few sexy glances towards you, which are normally misinterpreted." Morgan gave one to Reid now and the younger laughed. "Now, how long have you had feelings for me?"

"Four years, twenty seven days, four hours, thirty two minutes, and seven seconds." Reid replied automatically.

"Wow, you got it down to the second." Morgan guffawed happily.

"Yeah, well I half denied it for sometime." Reid shrugged and tried to sound nonchalant.

Morgan decided that since they were being open and honest for the first time about their feelings, he'd risk digging a little deeper. "So, are you going to tell me why you were depressed?"

The brief glower on Reid's face was hard to miss, but he stuffed it back down and smiled weakly. "I already told you, I was just feeling sorry for myself."

"About what?"

Reid mumbled something and Morgan leaned over slightly, eyes still on the road. "What was that?"

The slender man beside him sank a little in his seat. "Fine, I was depressed because I was finally realizing that I couldn't deny my feelings for you and it was eating me up." Reid almost spat the words, but changed his tone of voice considerably.

"Wait, what? Are you serious?" Morgan's whole face contorted into one of concern and he risked a longer look at his date. "I'm sorry, Spencer."

"You shouldn't be the only one to be sorry, and you're not. I'm sorry too Derek. I played an equal part to our silence."

Signaling for the off ramp, Morgan focused on driving momentarily. They exited the freeway and soon they found themselves in the heart of the city.

"Well, I can say I feel pretty reassured and confident about this now." Morgan said, trying to pick the mood back up, and pulled into a parking garage. "I wasn't sure the degree of your feelings for me."

"I still don't think you know the degree of my feelings for you." Reid replied simply, and to Morgan's surprise he leaned over so he could comfortably rest his hand on Morgan's thigh. It had taken a lot for Reid to build up the courage to initiate some contact, but he had a feeling if he didn't Morgan would begin to doubt his words.

Car put into park, Morgan grabbed Reid's hand, and looked into his date's eyes. Those perfect, expressive, brown eyes. He gave Reid's hand a soft squeeze.

"Alright, are you ready for some hopefully bomb ass steak?" He let go of the slender fingers to take the keys out of the ignition and open his car door.

"Heck yeah. I forgot how hungry I was."

"You know what I never understood about you? How does someone forget their hungry?" Morgan's look was one of genuine confusion as the two climbed out of the car. Reid snorted and closed the door behind him and watched the impressive man walk around the car towards him.

"Well, not all of us are bottomless pits, and some of us have more important things racing through our brains than nourishment."

"Fine, fine, I concede, for now." The two men fell into step together and started to leisurely stroll towards the city streets.

That's when Morgan realized he wasn't sure if Reid would be comfortable holding hands in public, or maybe Morgan could put his arm around him in some nature? He wanted to wrap his arm around the slender waist, or lace his hand with Reid's. But the dynamics of the relationship were in the early stages. Should he ask if Reid was against or for PDA?

The two men walked in perfect stride with one another. Reid fidgeted with the strap of his messenger bag, and glanced at Morgan through the corner of his eye. He wanted to feel the touch of Morgan somehow. He wanted to feel the safety of the other man's body.

Finally, Reid decided to throw his apprehensions out the window and dropped one clammy hand from his messenger bag and tentatively grabbed a hold of the elder's hand. Morgan felt his tension slightly drain at the shy touch. He grinned at Reid so wide he was sure he looked dopey, but he didn't care. He laced his fingers with Reid's and brought their hands together as tightly as possible.

Mutual fuzzy feelings, as Garcia would call them, raced up each man's arm. Reid's heart stuttered a bit before lifting into his throat, and Morgan's step became more of a bounce.

"And here we are. I hope it's as good as the reviews said." Morgan let go of Reid's hand to open the door for him.

"Thanks." Reid mumbled. He hoped Morgan wasn't trying to feminize him. He realized that while they were both men, one of them definitely wore the pants, so to speak, in their relationship. At first he felt a little anger bubble rise in his stomach, but it was quickly popped when he found he actually didn't mind it that much. Morgan knew he was a man, and he still had his own masculinity, but he liked being treated, so he pushed the concern aside.

The restaurant was pretty busy, it had gained a good reputation already, but Morgan managed to get their names moved up on the list with a little green persuasion. They were seated within fifteen minutes at a table in the back. It wasn't the greatest seat in the house, but neither of them cared.

"Mmm. They've got salmon." Reid practically moaned in satisfaction and was about to fold his menu.

Morgan scoffed, "what? You are getting a steak. The biggest, juiciest, steak they have." He told Reid, and looked down at his own menu. "The 20 oz."

"Excuse me? I'll order what I want." Reid scoffed back, and looked down at his menu pointedly.

"It's a steak joint, you gotta get a steak. And you don't need lean meats like fish, you need beef." He whined slightly and gave Reid his best pout. It wasn't as good as the genius', or at least he didn't think so. Reid on the other hand found Morgan's pout to be one of the single most evilly adorable things he'd ever witnessed, next to Cobain when he was a kitten and had hissed at him for a full minute.

"Fine." Reid sighed and set down his menu. "You win."

"Whoa, that easy, huh?"

"Don't get any ideas about using that face on a regular basis."

"I didn't think it was that good."

"You thought wrong." Reid gave his best glare, but Morgan knew it was in good fun so he chuckled. That's when he realized Reid had rested his hand on top of the table. He hoped that meant what he thought it did. He took in a little breath and reached out his own hand to grasp Reid's and pull it closer to him. Reid moved his fingers to embrace Morgan's hand in his, and they let their hands rest peacefully together.

"Hi there, I'm Kevin, what can I get for you two tonight?" Their waiter had arrived and had thankfully ignored their public display of affection.

They placed their order for two 20 ounce sirloins and picked their sides and drinks. Their beers came back quickly, and they settled in to wait for their dinner.

"So, you said Garcia knew about your feelings for me?" Reid piped up a conversation. He wasn't sure how to pick a topic really. They'd known each other for so long, there wasn't much of a get to know each other better stage.

Morgan smiled fondly and took a sip of his beer. "Yeah, she's apparently the fountain of _all_ knowledge. Although, she didn't know if you had as strong as feelings for me as I did for you." Morgan found himself oggling his date. He took in the strong, defined jaw line and the beautiful eyes lit up by a rare true happiness.

"Alright, here we are." Kevin had returned with their food. Reid was impressed by the timing, and both men's mouths watered at the sight laid before them.

"You ready for this?" Morgan asked eagerly, and picked up his knife and fork. Reid mirrored his actions and the two cut a piece out of their steaks simultaneously.

"On three." Morgan said. It was a ritual of theirs when they went out with the team to a new place to taste the food at the same time. "One, two, three." The food went into their mouths and they both immediately dissolved.

"Mmm." Reid groaned and watched his date's eyes slide closed as he relished the way the steak's juices burst in his mouth. Several sexual thoughts and images flashed through his mind and he almost choked on his steak. He decided he'd better close his eyes too before his mind ran away into the land of dirty thoughts and boners.

When Morgan opened his eyes it was to find Reid's eyes closed, his face lax with contentment and he shoved the grin off his face to avoid his food falling out of his mouth.

"Glad you got that steak now, eh?" Morgan finally asked when he'd swallowed his first bite. He began to cut up the rest of the meat and Reid opened his eyes to do the same.

"Yeah, we might have been a little over indulgent with that, but it's definitely worthy of it." Reid smirked and took a bite of his steamed veggies before returning to the masterpiece before him. "If I can't finish this I will be vastly disappointed."

"You can always get a go box." Morgan suggested. "Eat it tomorrow morning, you know, a real breakfast."

"Who eats steak for breakfast?"

"People who obey their stomach's desires."

"That would be your brains desires, because that would be called giving in to a craving." Reid pointed out and brought another bite to his mouth. He delicately slid the meat off his fork with his teeth and let it roll passed his lips.

"You eat sexy." Reid nearly choked at Morgan's words.

"Are you trying to kill me? Because I don't think that would be too sexy." Reid grumbled around his mouthful of food.

"I'm just speaking the truth." Morgan's lips were tugging up, and his eyes were alit with something Reid hadn't seen before. The doctor was going to try to diagnose what it was, but Morgan looked down to continue on his plate.

By the time the two were done, they were bulging from the effort of stuffing as much as they could into their stomachs. Reid was reminded of their last case and fell into a slightly brooding silence.

"Hey, none of that. This is our fun time." Morgan scolded.

"So, mind reading is working out well for you?" Reid tried to lighten his own mood per Morgan's request. He was right after all. They had to enjoy the moments they had outside of work.

"Just with you, Pretty Boy." Morgan shifted and wished he could undue his belt buckle a notch without looking conspicuous.

"Here you go, you two. Everything tasted okay?" Kevin gave them a courteous smile and set the leather booklet on the table with their check.

"Oh my god, definitely." Morgan reached forward and snatched the check before Reid could blink, taking advantage of his sedated state.

"I'm glad to hear it." Kevin took his leave again and Reid made a move to reach across the table.

"No, ah, ah." Morgan wagged a finger at him and sat up a bit to take out his wallet. "I'm taking you out to dinner. Remember?"

"You better be thankful I'm in a food coma, or I would totally wrestle you for that."

"Are you making up your own medical terms now, doctor?"

"Yes, yes I am." Reid paused. "It isn't possible to go into a coma from eating too much, but it does cause your brain and body to slow down into a relaxed state."

Morgan shook his head with a content smile and set the booklet back on the table with their payment.

After paying and leaving a generous tip, the two stood slowly and sluggishly moved to the door.

"Food coooomaaa." Morgan groaned in exaggeration and Reid giggled. The elder felt his chest skip with pride. He loved making Reid giggle. He snaked his arm around the slender man's waist and pulled him in close to his side. At first Reid stiffened, but relaxed to lean into the strong man's body. He could smell Morgan's light burst of cologne, and his underlying natural spice.

"Mmm." Morgan hummed in content and turned his head to nuzzle his face into Reid's hair. It smelled of vanilla, and slightly of something manlier. He lay a drawn out kiss into his locks of hair and Reid seemed to melt even more into his arms.

When they reached the car they regrettably parted and belted themselves into their seats. Although Morgan wanted to take Reid home with him, he wanted to do the first date thing right, so he turned the car on and made their way back to Reid's apartment.

The drive home was relatively quiet, neither feeling the need to fill the void of silence anymore. It was as if they had clambered over the hump of awkward and entered the land of content. Too soon they found themselves regrettably pulling into Reid's parking lot. Morgan drove deliberately slower to park the car and shut it off. "I'll walk you to the door." He expected some sort of argument. Something like, you don't have to do that, which was very Reid. He didn't like people going out of their way for him, but Reid nodded happily and climbed out of the SUV.

Immediately Morgan brought Reid into his side with one arm and the younger found himself unconsciously nuzzled into the almost constant warmth of Morgan's body, his own arm coming up to wrap around the elder's lower back.

Much like the drive home, the front door to Reid's apartment building came upon them much too quickly. Morgan shifted the slender man so they were embracing front on. He relished in the way that the smaller mans body conformed to him and brought one hand to hold Reid's head in place against him, his other arm in place around his back, Reid's arms laced around his back as tightly as possible. The scent of vanilla and cologne enveloped them into a bubble of comfort.

Reid felt Morgan's neck stiffen under his touch, and at first dread plopped into his stomach. Was the man having second thoughts? Did Reid do something wrong? It wasn't until he built up the courage to look him in the eye that he realized that the something was wrong was over his shoulder. Resisting the urge to turn to look, Reid put the question in his eyes.

"There's a man at your five o'clock, by his car, he's watching us."

If anyone outside of his team had said it, Reid may have doubted if they read the person correctly, but it was Morgan.

Reid brought his lips right next to his date's ear to make it seem like an intimate moment. "Watching us like how?"

"I can't make out his face." Morgan responded, laying a kiss on Reid's shoulder with his eyes trained on the figure. "His posture isn't threatening, more tense. I'm walking you up."

With no resistance, Reid fished out his keys and let them into the building. Pretending to want the door to shut quietly, Morgan turned to guide it closed. The man was getting into his car.

"He's leaving." Morgan reported and followed Reid to the stairwell. "Have you noticed anyone weird around, someone you keep seeing?"

"No, I haven't. You don't have to ask." Reid shot over his shoulder. The presence of the figure was unnerving, but he was slightly perturbed by Morgan's doubt in him. "I am an FBI profiler, I'm cautious."

"Sorry, Pretty Boy. I had to ask." Morgan winced and stopped next to Reid in front of his door.

"I know, Mr. Alpha-me-protect. Roar." Reid smirked and Morgan moved in a flash, his hands yanking Reid's body to his.

"Yes, roar." Morgan growled and ran his hands across Reid's back until he had him in a glove like hug, his body swallowing the slighter man's frame.

"Thank you for tonight, it was wonderful." Reid's voice was shy and muffled against Morgan's chest.

"Thank _you_, Spencer." Morgan pulled Reid back slightly and cupped his hand against the man's cheek. Reid brought one hand behind Morgan's neck, and the two realized they were both on the same field.

Slowly, relishing in the moment leading up to it, they began to move their faces closer together. Reid's tongue flicked across his lips and Morgan's mouth watered at the sight. When their lips finally slid together Reid gave I unintended moan and felt the other man's lips turn up in a smirk as their lips moved and melded together, chaste, and careful. Both set of lips pouted outwards, holding on to prolong the moment, as both men's faces pulled away regrettably.

"Spencer Reid." Morgan breathed and licked his lips. The sugary taste of Reid splashed across his taste buds and he almost surged his face forward again. He struggled to speak through the bubble of suspense in his throat. "I want to do this. Me and you."

The younger man's eyes were half lidded, and a lazy smile Morgan had never bore witness to sat on his lips.

"Yes." Reid replied simply. The disbelief that any of this was happening was swept away with the honesty of Morgan's words. Morgan leaned forward again and sealed the words with another kiss. Their lips moved together slowly and sensually, both feeling the promise that was made with it.

When they pulled apart for the second time Morgan rubbed his thumb against one of Reid's defined cheek bones and beamed at him. Oh how he wanted to follow Reid over his threshold, but he reigned his desires in temporarily. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Reid grinned radiantly and kissed Morgan on the cheek. "Definitely."

Before Morgan climbed into his SUV with all the happiness he thought was possible, he threw his eyes around the lot for the man or the car, but they were both gone. He pushed the anxious feeling the man had caused him aside, setting his mind on the joy the night with Spencer had given him.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the slight mush. I just imagine they'd be that way sometimes.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry the lengthy amount of time between updates. I have become increasingly frustrated with this story, and my college work load isn't helping work it out. But I think my block has been lifted. Sooo, finally, here we go.

Wiggling his ass around was something that Spencer Reid did on occasion when he was in a particularly upbeat mood. He'd never let anyone know it though. So, when he woke up Sunday morning, he popped in an upbeat mix of 90's music and danced around his apartment while he cleaned it from top to bottom.

He decided that his date with Morgan, albeit mushy, was moving and shoved the mutual feelings into reality. With the rolling feelings of intrigue in his gut he'd laid down to sleep that night with thoughts clashing in his mind. With his happiness came unwelcome, probably ridiculous, questions. What if he wasn't good enough? He'd barely had any relationships and was terrible with sexual touch. Morgan was a man of desire, what if he wanted to move faster than he, himself, did?

Grumbling to himself, Reid had finally slipped off into dream land too late in the night, and found himself in a drowsy shock when he woke in a much better state of mind than when he fell asleep, so he had set about getting out his excited energy cleaning his apartment.

When his buzzer sounded around two in the afternoon he stood rigidly straight and stared in wide eyed horror at the intercom system. Morgan couldn't have just dropped by announced, he wasn't dressed for it! Morgan had seen him in much less, and in much more unflattering clothing before, but now that their relationship had changed into a different playing field, it suddenly seemed to matter much more.

The buzzer sounded again and Reid scrambled to the intercom in a panic.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey, Pretty Boy. Sorry I didn't call. I was running some errands and decided it'd be easier to stop by now instead of back tracking." Morgan's tone changed to apologetic as he realized that he really should've called first, but there was no taking it back now.

"Um, yeah. Okay. Uh."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'll buzz you in." Reid hit the button to allow Morgan entrance for a moment before racing down the hallway to his bedroom.

"Aw, shit!" He howled as he stubbed his toe on the corner of his dresser in his haste to put on something more decent than a oversized tee and very unflattering duck plastered pajama bottoms. He ripped a shirt off its hanger and flung the one he was wearing off, not caring where it landed.

Knocking on his door had him cussing again, and he pulled the shirt on, ignoring the buttons to divest himself of his pants. He stumbled back and forth on one foot as he struggled to pull them off and fell to the floor with a resounding thud.

"Oh, for fucks sakes." Reid cried and threw the pants at the wall. He scrambled to his feet and grabbed a pair of jeans. They were one of his less appealing pairs, but he didn't care. Pants buttoned he looked down only to realize they had a gaping hole in the knee. With no time and an unwillingness to fall on his ass again with his lack of coordination, he shrugged back out of the button up shirt and pulled the tee back on.

"You're already blasting 90's music, might as well go all the way." He grumbled. At least he wasn't wearing ducky pajamas anymore. The knocking on his door became more insistent. "I'm coming!" He called as he slid back down the hallway. He hit his front door more enthusiastically than he intended and flung it open with a forced smile, eyes frantically wide. "Good afternoon!"

Morgan's face was caught between confused, concerned, and amused. Reid realized Morgan must have heard at least some part of his episode and cursed before stalking back into his apartment. Morgan smirked and followed him, watching the way the jeans crinkled around his ass as he walked. He wished they were tighter, he needed to see that nice tush.

"So, having some issues with something?" Morgan asked innocently.

"I wasn't ready, I was cleaning." Reid gestured around at the cleaning supplies littering various areas of his apartment, and the gleaming surfaces.

"That's quite alright. The grunge look works for you. It's kinda sexy." Morgan pinched Reid's bottom bravely and the man squawked. "So, you wanna come over to my place, or hang out here? I could help you clean." Morgan suggested, albeit a little unenthusiastically with his last suggestion.

The young genius shifted from foot to foot and glanced around. "You don't have to. We should just go back to your place." Reid responded, and ran his hands through his hair, sticking it up at all sorts of odd angles. Morgan loved it when he did that. It gave him that thoroughly sexed look, only problem was that he wasn't, yet.

"Alright, lets go."

"Can I change first?" Reid's voice begged slightly, and he switched off the stereo before it could play anything too embarrassing.

"Hm. No. My votes on lounge wear today. I mean look at me." He held his arms out and Reid turned to notice Morgan was wearing a blue, slightly baggier shirt, and a pair of sweats. The shirt still clung to his muscles when he moved certain ways, and Reid licked his lips at the sight.

"You, Derek Morgan, went out in public, in sweats?" Reid asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I do that sometimes. On Sundays only though." He shrugged and took a step towards Reid. "You won't hold it against me, will you?" He gave a slight pout and Reid let out a shaky laugh.

"Definitely not." He hesitantly snaked his hands around Morgan's waist and pulled him closer to inhale his scent. "Mmm. And you haven't showered, you always shower."

"I'm sure I'm all sorts of funkay."

"No. You smell like you. It's delectable." Reid sighed and licked Morgan's neck courageously. "Taste like you too."

After his initial shock at Reid's forwardness, Morgan waggled his finger at him. "Spencer Reid. You are a naughty boy."

"Shut it." Reid pulled back and grabbed his messenger bag from its place on the couch, slightly embarrassed, knowing he gave the wrong impression on his sexual comfort. "Shall we?"

"You're actually going for the lounge wear?"

"Would you have given me a choice?"

Morgan fake pondered for a moment before giving a jubilant, "Hell no!" And lead them back towards the front door. Reid rolled his eyes and followed him.

The day seemed to be much more comfortable than their date so far. Maybe it was the lack of formality, and the alleviated tension after laying their feelings on the table, but their ease with each other as friends was beginning to come back into play as lovers.

"We don't really have an agenda for today, do we?" Morgan mentioned when they entered his home and kicked their shoes unceremoniously off onto the matt.

"It's funny, that should really bother me. It usually does, but for some reason today, with you, I don't really seem to care." Reid beamed radiantly at Morgan before neatly organizing their shoes on the matt.

"Well, good, because I don't either." Morgan bopped Reid on the nose and the younger scrunched up his face adorably. Morgan couldn't resist following the bop with a kiss to the nose and Reid scrunched his face further. "You, are too freaking cute." Morgan told him and reached out to grasp Reid's hips.

Prominently blushing, Reid knew he should return the compliment. "And you, are too handsome." He said, and allowed Morgan to step forward as he gently pulled Reid closer and pressed their hips together, further testing the line of acceptable intimacy.

"You are the most beautiful thing to walk the planet." Morgan knew he sounded cheesy, but he also knew that he didn't give a flying fuck.

"There is no creature, human or not, in the universe or any other, that exudes as much sexiness as you do." Reid brought his hands around to squeeze Morgan's ass.

"Whoa, babe. Is there some sex monster you need to tell me about?"

Reid frowned and let his hands move up to Morgan's back instead, leaning back slightly. "You've never seen my sexual side because I don't broadcast it, that doesn't mean it's never existed before." Reid muttered.

The bigger man studied his new boyfriend, his forehead crinkling in thought. "Then why did you just back up into that shell of yours?" Reid mumbled something and flushed, his eyes suddenly finding Morgan's shoulder much more fascinating than his eyes. Morgan sighed and put one hand on Reid's shoulder, the other under his chin, crooking his face back up to his.

"I'm sorry. I'm just…I don't have a lot of experience. And I'm pretty average looking, which 59% of people would also describe themselves as such, and you are just so damn gorgeous, and confident, and-" A calloused hand came up to cover Reid's lips and he closed his eyes, not wanting to see the frustration in his counterpart's eyes.

"Dr. Spencer Reid, open your eyes and look at me." Morgan commanded, at first Reid refused, taking a breath in through his nose. "Now." Morgan demanded, his voice raising in strength and decibel. He brought his other hand to grasp the other side of Reid's face and sighed. "I would not, will not, rush you into anything you don't want to do yet, and I will not leave you because you're not ready for something. I am by your side for the long haul. And average looking?"

Flushed in the cheeks, Reid averted his eyes again.

"Look at me." Morgan sighed in exasperation. "You know what I thought when I first saw you?" Reid's eyes lit in curiosity and Morgan gave him a small smile. "That you were going to get me into a lot of trouble. I tried not to look at you sexually…but over the years you've only gotten sexier and more beautiful with every day, and then I couldn't ignore it anymore." Morgan rubbed a thumb along Reid's defined jaw line. "And I had to admit to myself that you were gorgeous, in body and mind."

The pink crimson of Reid's blush had grown to a full red. Amazed by his friend and colleagues opinion of him, he felt guilt bubble in his gut as well. Morgan's past with Buford moved into the forefront of his mind. He wondered how hard it had been to come to terms with his bisexuality. He probably blamed it on the sexual abuse at first.

"Um…Was I the first…male, that you were sexually attracted to?" Reid whispered. He didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but his curiosity got the better of him.

Frowning, Morgan tensed, but moved his arms to bring Reid close to his chest, nuzzling his face in his hair. "There have only been a couple. I had a hard time with it."

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have asked." Reid muttered regrettably. He hadn't meant for the mood to change so drastically. He always had to open his big mouth.

"We have to share sometimes." Morgan drew back slightly to rub his cheek against Reid's to let him know it was okay despite his hardened tone. "Have you had breakfast?"

"It's two in the afternoon."

"You didn't answer my question."

Reid scrunched his face and took Morgan's lead to a change in conversation. "I'm not hungry."

"Come on, angel face." Morgan said softly, and pulled the man into the kitchen after him. "What would you like?"

"Um. Coffee?" Reid said weakly. "Can't we skip it?"

"If you hadn't already, I wouldn't interrupt play time for it now. Come on, genius. You know breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Morgan teased, forcing the mood back up with ease, and shoving unwelcome memories away to form happier new ones.

"I don't need it. I'm a genius after all. Food has no control over my brain power." Reid knew his excuse wouldn't work, but it was worth a try.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. Now pick something. Anything." Morgan decided Reid needed a little color to his cheeks and reached out, tickling along his ribcage.

The touch had the desired effect, and Reid's face lit up in a slight blush as he giggled.

"Fine. Eggs and toast." He shied away from Morgan's touch to lean against the counter.

"It's a start." Morgan purred and opened the fridge to get to work. "Sit down, I will be your cook and waiter this fine afternoon."

"Not that I don't appreciate the chivalry, but I don't think I can sit and watch you cook for me." Reid gave Morgan a stern look and the elder chuckled.

"Sorry, babe. But you're going to have to get used to that. I grew up with three women." He winked and pulled out the eggs and butter.

Grumbling, Reid flopped down in a chair. He knew better than to argue with a mindset Morgan. The man was stubborn beyond belief. He watched as Morgan moved around the kitchen and caught himself watching his ass, and the way his muscles rippled as he moved, more than anything else.

"So, movie day?" Morgan was talking. Reid hadn't even realized it he was so caught up in the man's physique. He blushed and shook his head vigorously.

"Sorry, what?" Reid asked weakly. "I got lost in thought."

"Or, my ass. Whichever one." Morgan teased. "I was asking if you wanted to watch some movies today? Have a good ole relaxing home day?"

The young genius nodded enthusiastically before realizing Morgan couldn't see him. "That sounds great." How did the aspect of something normally so dull to him suddenly seem so enthralling?

Morgan flipped the eggs onto the plate just as the toast popped up. He quickly buttered it and laid the meal in front of his love.

"I totally agree." Morgan handed Reid a fork.

"Did you know you can't taste food unless it's mixed with saliva?" Reid took the fork.

"No, but thanks for the info. Now, eat up. All of it." He gave Reid a stern look and the man snorted at him.

"Mother hen." He grumbled but began to get to work on the meal. The sooner he put it down, the sooner he could be curled up on the couch.

Astonishing Morgan, Reid shoveled the food down in record time and stood abruptly. "Next!"

"Want some orange juice to wash that down?" Morgan smirked.

"The FDA regulations state that one cup of orange juice can contain up to ten fruit fly eggs, and two maggots." Reid's face contorted with disgust. "So, needless to say, I don't drink it. Most FDA regulations are actually quite vulgar though, so I try not to think about it too much. Did you know-"

"That you are ridiculously adorable and turn me on an obscene amount when you start spouting off facts like that? Absolutely." Morgan cut Reid off with a compliment, and Reid blushed furiously, shifting in his seat anxiously.

"I'm gonna clean up and grab Clooney from the garage, why don't you go in the living room and pick out a movie? And no Star Wars today." Morgan waggled a finger at his boyfriend who stuck his tongue out at him before moving out to the living room.

Morgan had thought Reid would've picked a movie by the time he was done washing the dishes, but when he entered the living room he found him still sitting on his knees, legs folded under him, mismatched socks on display, studying his movies dubiously.

Smirking, Morgan came to crouch behind his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around him. "Oh, come on Pretty Boy. Nothing looks good?" The slender man in his arms jolted in surprise with a strangled cry of surprise.

"Whoa, take a breather there babe." Morgan steadied Reid by his shoulders and pulled him backwards into his arms.

"Sorry, I'm not used to…touch." Reid mumbled guiltily, although he knew Morgan was already aware of that fact. He found himself thankful they'd been friends for as long as they had.

"I know, if you don't see it coming it startles you. My bad." Morgan rubbed his arm and turned his attention back to the DVDs. "So, nothing sparking your interest? I didn't think I had that bad of taste."

Thankful that Morgan didn't dwell on it he forced himself to lean back into Morgan's embrace. "No, I just wasn't sure what you were in the mood for."

"Well, I'm always in the mood for a little something, something, else." Morgan waggled his eyebrows.

"You know what I meant." Reid rolled his eyes.

"I asked you to choose because you're a little pickier than me about movies, so grab one." Morgan shrugged and turned his attention to kissing the crook of Reid's neck.

Electricity jolting across his skin, Reid tried to focus on the decision at hand, but it seemed Morgan was intent on making that impossible. With a grunt of frustration Reid grabbed a movie at random before turning and thrusting it into Morgan's hands.

Chuckling, Morgan moved to the DVD player, having successfully distracted Reid enough to get a decision out of him, although he noted it wasn't really a choice he normally would've made, he probably didn't even know what the movie was about.

"Come here, Pretty Boy." Morgan flopped on the couch and opened his arm's wide. Reid smiled shyly, and sat gently on the couch, his nerves displayed all over his body language. Morgan grabbed his slender shoulders and pulled him backwards before wrapping his muscular arm around him and bringing him close to his side. Sighing, Reid allowed Morgan's warmth to flow through him and he lay his head back on to his shoulder, feeling his nerves start to drain from his body.

Minutes into the movie Reid found himself turning his face to lay his ear against Morgan's broad front, his heartbeat soothing him into a lull. Morgan's occasional chuckle would rumble through his chest, the sound soothing Reid further.

Reid's body had become like putty against Morgan's. The elder breathed in and out a few times before gently cupping Reid's chin and guiding his face upwards. Big, brown eyes met his, a shy twinkling of excitement shining in their depths. Slowly, Morgan moved his face forward, wanting to give Reid an out if he wanted it, but to his relief Reid leaned forwards, and their lips finally came sliding together in a modest kiss. Moments drew on as their lips moved together in a subdued dance, until one of Reid's hands came up to run underneath Morgan's shirt hesitantly. A groan rolled out of Morgan's lips and he leaned forward to deepen the kiss, his tongue running back and forth against the younger's lips, begging entrance, which Reid granted with a whimper.

Hands ran across any exposed flesh, as the rhythm to their make out session became more frantic. Morgan grabbed a hold of his slender boyfriend, yanking him up and on top of him to straddle his lap, making their erections very well known. Reid felt his face heat slightly in response to their new found position, but determinedly kept his lips locked with Morgan's, a moan falling from his lips.

Unable to hold back his lust, Morgan's hips began to rise and fall on their own accord, seeking friction. The increased contact bringing a whimper from the slender form on top of him, who threw his head back and rutted his hips forward in response, giving Morgan a maddening display of the gorgeous man's normal innocence devolved into debauchery.

Reid's normally constant thoughts began to fall away as Derek Morgan erased his inhibitions, and blanked his mind to fill it with sensation. Timidly, Reid began to play with the hem of Morgan's shirt as they moved against each other. Sensing what Reid wanted, but was too embarrassed to do himself, Morgan reached between them to throw his shirt unceremoniously across the room.

With a uncharacteristic show of confidence, Reid latched onto Morgan's shoulder and began to suck and bite his way across his collar bone. Morgan's chest lifted and heaved in response to press against the delicious contact, his hips grinding upwards violently, Reid's body bouncing upwards with the force.

Reid let out a whimper when he felt Morgan's hands settle against his sides, grabbing fistfuls of Reid's shirt, and yanking it over his head before Reid could have a second thought. Strong, arms, and Morgan's musky scent enveloped him. Gasping at the feel of Morgan's hot skin on his, he ground his hips forward faster.

Morgan's hands flitted, teased, and rubbed all over every part of Reid's frame he could get to, unable to stop them in one place, wanting nothing more than to worship the man's slender body, and push him into ecstasy.

With Reid too lost in the sensations flowing through him, his hesitation seemed to take a temporary leave of absence. His lips crashing against the darker man's, he brought Morgan's tongue into his mouth, sucking and biting on it. Moaning in response, Morgan's hips came up to meet Reid's even more harshly, the feel of their cocks rubbing together pushing them closer to the edge. Pulling his face away from Reid's, Morgan moved from his ear down to his neck, teasing lightly against his skin to contrast with the rough grinding of their hips.

"Oh god, oh Derek!" Reid cried and Morgan knew it was coming, giving Reid one last push to the edge he bit down on his collar bone, pleased to feel the body straddling him bow backwards, and Reid's sinful cry of pleasure light up the air, the sound pulling Morgan's release along to follow him into the oblivion of ecstasy.

As Morgan rode out the last bit of his orgasm, head thrown against the back of the couch, Reid's head of brown curls fell forward onto his shoulder, his breathing erratic and his mind filled with fuzz. How on Earth had Morgan done that?

"Pretty Boy, you're amazing." Morgan's words ghosting across his neck brought Reid slightly back to reality.

"So much for the movie." Reid yawned, his head turning slightly to nestle against Morgan's chest.

"You wouldn't have liked it anyway." Morgan chuckled, his arms wrapping themselves around Reid's waist, and pulling him forward to nestle him against his body as close as possible.

"Should we get cleaned up?" Reid mumbled, not really wanting to move, but not knowing how things were normally done after you got done rutting against each other and your shorts were wet with cum.

"No…We'll do it later." Morgan muttered drowsily, perfectly content to fall asleep as they were, and with Reid's mind unaccustomedly foggy, the young genius decided to agree and let sleep take him. If that was dry humping with Morgan, sex with him was going to take away his title of certifiable genius.

A/N: Again, I apologize for the wait. Please review! I am hopeful to be updating within the next two days. =)


	9. Chapter 9 Part 1

A/N: Alrighty then. Wanted to get some team interactions thrown in here because I haven't included them nearly enough. Some more happy go lucky character time and relationship development before we get to some angst stuff! Onward!

Warmth beamed through him, a heavy weight that would normally have alarmed him lay across his chest. Morgan shifted with a grunt, the weight grunting back in annoyance.

"Can't feel my legs…" Morgan mumbled. The two men hadn't moved at all through their nap. Reid's hands lay on Morgan's shoulders, his head nuzzled into his neck, Morgan's hands resting on the other man's thighs.

"Mm." Reid replied, pushing his face closer into the crook of Morgan's neck.

That's when Morgan heard his dreaded ring tone from somewhere next to him. With a scowl he reached blindly for the phone on the cushion next to him, not at all pleased with the interruption of the so far so good day they were having.

He glared at the caller I.d. over Reid's shoulder and heaved a sigh before answering with a grumble.

"Now, is that any way to greet a princess?" Garcia's voice chided from the other line. Reid groaned and slid from Morgan's lap to splay across the other side of the couch, the feeling of loss only serving to deepen Morgan's scowl.

"It is when she's interrupting a much needed personal day with a prince." He mumbled, forgetting that he hadn't officially told her that Reid and him were now exclusively dating. The squeals he got in return for his statement had him pulling the phone from his ear and glaring at the receiver in annoyance, while Reid reluctantly stumbled from the couch to the bathroom, grumbling something about needing to drain his bladder to avoid prostate damage.

"Details!"

"Not right now. What did you need?"

"Pft. Well, JJ invited the team over for dinner tonight, and I am helping pass along the invites per request. Are you going to tell them?"

"Uh…We skipped that part."

"Well, you should probably work that out, but more importantly, I require details now." Garcia told him simply, as if that settled it.

"Not right now." He repeated.

"Do you want me to make an excuse up for you and genius boy?" Garcia giggled and Morgan rolled his eyes.

"No, if we decide we can't make it, we'll do it ourselves." Morgan ran his hand over the back of his shaved head. He wasn't looking forward to their day together being interrupted.

"Well, fine, but stop being such a poophead. It doesn't suit you."

"A poophead?" Morgan asked ludicrously.

"Yes, now, give me a proper good bye." She laughed and Morgan found himself smiling slightly.

"Alright, fine. Good bye all amazing baby girl."

"Hopefully see you later chocolate hunk."

Morgan tossed his phone beside him and heard Reid's voice from the bathroom. JJ must've called him to extend the invite. Waiting for Reid to finish his business, he realized his briefs were stiff with cum for the first time since he'd woken. With less enthusiasm than he normally had for getting clean, he shuffled upstairs to the bathroom connected to his bedroom to clean up and change clothes.

"I really do not want to go to that." Reid's voice growled from behind Morgan as he jumped into a clean pair of pants, having already changed his briefs. Turning around, Morgan earned a little relief in his mood with the image of his thoroughly disheveled boyfriend, a look Reid did not wear often, but damn he wore it well.

"Neither do I, but we should." Morgan stepped forward and snaked his arms around Reid's waist, admiring the way his hair stuck up in a crazed, sexed way.

Blushing, Reid bit his lip and lowered his eyes. "Um. We'd have to swing by my place. I kind of need a change of clothes."

"Kind of?" Morgan chuckled and stared down at his boyfriend adoringly, appreciating the casual jeans all over again. "I always imagined you wore sweater vests and slacks twenty-four seven, even in your sleep."

"You imagined wrong." Reid stuck out his tongue and Morgan laughed. It was the kind of laugh that lit Morgan's eyes up with fireworks and accentuated his crows feet. His grin threatening to stretch his face in two, and his teeth gleaming as the laughter fell from his lips. It was the kind of laugh Reid didn't get to see as often as he would've liked, the kind that made his stomach flutter. Over the last two days he'd seen it more than he had in the last two months, and that was a fact, he'd counted.

Morgan's laughter died, but a smile still rested on his face, one that looked like he was trying to restrain it slightly so he didn't look like a loon, but it was still contagious. Reid soon found himself smiling right back.

"What are we even so silly happy about right now?" Reid asked, but the smile did not falter.

"No idea. We've got a dinner to go to where we don't get to be in each other's laps. Not such a happy idea." Morgan poked Reid's nose and he wiggled it in response. He was going to ask why Morgan kept doing that, but he really didn't care.

"So, we're going?" Reid asked quizzically.

"We would go if we weren't together. We shouldn't ditch out on our friends." Morgan shrugged. "Not that I'm bursting with joy about it. But, we'll have fun."

"Um, speaking of this dinner. We didn't discuss the team. Should we tell them?"

"It's up to us."

"Statistically speaking-"

"No, no stats Spence. What should we do?"

A pause lingered in the air before a whoosh of a sigh left Reid's lips. "What do you think?"

"We shouldn't tell them." Morgan's reply came without second thought.

"Because of the risk to our jobs?"

"No, because I don't like sharing." Morgan grinned, rubbing his hands soothingly across the small of Reid's back.

Brows crinkled, Reid's classic pondering face graced his features, it gave Morgan a giddy skip in his chest. God damn that look got his gears going. "I agree. Our relationship is new. I want to experience us privately before inviting others in."

"And we'll already be fending Garcia off with sticks." Morgan growled.

Eyes wide, Reid gaped for a moment. "How does Garcia know?"

"She's the one who got me to admit my feelings to you…I'm sorry, I should've told you." Morgan murmured, sucking on his cheek anxiously.

Thoughtfully picking at the collar of Morgan's shirt, Reid cracked a small smile. "It's okay, I should really thank her actually."

"Mmm. You are too sweet."

In agreement the two men stood staring at each other, almost awkwardly, for a moment.

"So, yeah. Change of clothes for this Homosapien?" Reid shifted nervously in Morgan's embrace.

Appreciatively, Morgan let his eyes trail down Reid's bare chest and to the V that lead teasingly into his low sitting jeans. "I guess, but damn babe." Morgan bit his lip and shook his head.

"Damn babe, what?"

"You have no idea how fucking sexy you are." Morgan growled and leaned his head down to place a soft kiss on Reid's collar bone. Reid found himself getting turned on by the dirty talk and closed his eyes.

"We have one hour to get to JJ's." Reid reminded him, although his breath had been picking up with excitement. His breathing almost halted all together when Morgan's mouth latched onto the spot he'd kissed and began to suck and lick it in earnest.

"Women's tongues are shorter than men's." Reid panted and tried to remove himself from Morgan's arms.

Morgan pulled back to admire the hickey he'd successfully marked his boyfriend with, and puffed a breath of air across it. Reid shivered, and Morgan smirked.

"Oh, I see the game now, you tease." Reid yanked himself away and put on a false pout.

"Sorry, Pretty Boy. I just like getting you riled up."

"I've gathered that." Reid grumbled.

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One and a half hours later the two men were practically falling out of Morgan's car and rushing up to JJ and Will's house. They would've been on time, they really would've. Reid had calculated it to the second, but Morgan had insisted on laying kisses all over Reid's back as they picked out his outfit, and then they'd had to make out for awhile.

"Hello there, tardy number one and two." JJ scolded, but her twinkling smile told them they were in no trouble.

"Yeah, I was even on time and Jack threw up just as I was leaving." Hotch piped up from somewhere beyond the door.

Staring at their feet in shame, the two men stepped into the house and took off their shoes.

"I'm sorry, I hope he's not sick." Reid winced guiltily.

"No, it was my fault. Too many airplane rides after too much ice cream." Hotch gave a rare smile that they only got to see outside of work. He sat on one side of the couch facing the T.V. in the living room.

"So, why were you late?" Prentiss was sitting on the other side of the couch and giving them raised eyebrows.

Reid didn't know what to say. He hadn't properly thought that one through. He normally didn't have to lie about his sexcapades to his coworkers.

"It's my bad. I miscalculated how much time I had to doll up." Morgan pretended to flip his non existent hair and Prentiss snorted derisively.

"Suuure." She gave him a thumbs up that clearly said she didn't believe them, but they were rescued, or perhaps captured, by Garcia's voice.

"Chocolate Adonis, and Boy Genius!" She rushed from the kitchen to wrap an arm around each of their waists. "I'm glad to see the last of my sexy agents has arrived."

Prentiss leaned her head back on the couch to get an upside down view of the three. "I like how we're _your_ agents. I didn't realize you'd purchased us."

"Oh, yes. I tell you the set was quite expensive, but well worth it." She let her hands travel down and pinch the two men's butts who both jolted away from her with glares.

This time they were properly saved by JJ. "Reid, why don't you help me in the kitchen? The rest of you sit your cabooses down. Morgan, you want a beer while we're in there?"

The mocha skinned man gave her an appreciate smile. "That would be great, thanks."

Reid watched regretfully as Morgan took a seat between Hotch and Emily, not that he wasn't thankful that he was given an excuse to escape further butt pinches from Garcia for now.

The kitchen was brimming full of wonderful smells that could only be described as a mother's cooking. He inhaled deeply and found his regret immediately filled by content.

"Where's Will?" He asked when JJ came flouncing back in from delivering beers, and took up cutting up some vegetables that she'd pointed to on the island.

"He's picking some wine and beer up from the store. He was going to go earlier, but he got caught up playing outside with Henry." She began to stir the random assortments of things bubbling on the stove.

The sound of the knife hitting the cutting board with each slice filled the kitchen for a few moments before JJ came over to rest her elbows on the counter and stare at Reid conspicuously.

"Can I help you with something?" Reid asked innocently.

"Why are you wearing form fitting jeans?"

"Well, they were in my closet, so I put them on." He shrugged, trying not to smile fondly at the memory of Morgan fishing them out of the back of his closet and practically wrestling him into them.

"Don't give me that bull." She grabbed a piece of green pepper and popped it into her mouth, falling silent as she chewed pensively. "Something's different about you. Those jeans are way too ass accentuating for your tastes."

"I enjoy some flattering clothing every once and while." Reid sniffed.

JJ grinned and spun around to lean on the counter backwards. "Bullshiiit." She sang, and giggled at the ineffective glower Reid tried to give her.

"There's someone romantic in your life, and I think I know who it is." She narrowed her eyes as if it would help her pierce straight into his brain.

"Yeah, there's someone romantic in _my_ life." He raised his eyebrows at her.

The blonde beauty put a hand on his arm to stop his movements. "Stop selling yourself short like that. Anyways, if I'm right, he's totally all about you. I can tell."

Reid halted his movements. It didn't surprise him that she'd said he. She knew that he swung both ways, but the fact that she knew it was someone that she knew, that was a problem.

"What does your mother say?" JJ questioned innocently.

"A mother always knows." Reid said quietly, staring unblinking at the vegetables.

"Yes, a mother always knows." JJ gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his arm before letting her fingers slowly fall away. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. But really, you could've told me. I'm your best girl friend, aren't I?" She gave him a fake pout as if she didn't know it to be true.

"Of course you are Jayje. It's a recent development." Reid laughed nervously, and began his work on the veggies again.

Their friend's came and went out of the kitchen as Reid and JJ danced around each other, Reid following her orders, stirring, chopping, flipping, seasoning and pouring. They basked in the time they got with one another, joking and chatting.

"Aren't you two about done in here?" Garcia giggled, and twirled into the kitchen, her cheeks flushed slightly now that Will had returned with wine and beer.

"Almost Garcia." JJ smiled and shot her a scolding look for her lack of patience.

The bubbly tech kitten hopped onto one of the few free counters and narrowed her eyes clinically at Reid. He immediately stiffened and busied himself with pouring the homemade tomato sauce in with the spaghetti noodles.

"Soooo…" Garcia glanced at JJ and the blonde pursed her lips to keep her smile under waters. Garcia knew what that look meant, JJ knew about their lovely hunks. "Are you going to give me details since Chocolate God denied me them earlier?"

Mushrooms, green peppers, and onions slid into the pot to join the sauce and noodles, and Reid hummed a tune loudly, ignoring Garcia completely while shifting out of JJ's way.

"I think that means no." JJ sniggered and slid out a tray of garlic bread, and a tray of green bean casserole from the oven.

"More beer?" Morgan poked his head around the corner before advancing into the kitchen.

"While you're at it, why don't you grab me a refill?" Garcia slid from the counter, and purposefully knocked into Morgan slightly. Caught off guard, Morgan bumped into Reid.

At first Morgan's hands moved to steady Reid around his waist, but he caught himself just as his fingertips grazed the waistline of Reid's jeans, yanking his hands away to put them up in the air. "Sorry, man. Someone over here is a little tipsy." As he spoke, Morgan turned to glare at Garcia.

"Tipsy off some sexy images you've let my imagination run away with." Garcia scoffed and moved for the wine.

"Do you recall that those images are under wraps right now?" Morgan spoke through gritted teeth, trying to keep his voice down, and moved out of JJ's way as she pulled a bowl of fruit out of the fridge.

"Relax, Morgan. I had my suspicions, Reid pretty much confirmed them." JJ took out some carrots and ranch.

The burly man didn't seem surprised by her words at all. "Doesn't change the fact that anyone could walk in right now-" He cut himself off when he spotted Will waltzing in to join them, but gave them all a pointed look before excusing himself from the crowded area.

Worrying his lip, Reid focused on stirring the huge pot of spaghetti and ignored his friend's moving around him. He could handle keeping their relationship to themselves for now, but he wasn't sure if he could handle a drunk Garcia being ridiculous and dropping hints for the rest of the night.

"Time to dish up!" JJ's voice snapped him from his inner thoughts. She handed him a plate with a soothing smile. "Hey, relax. She wouldn't say anything too blatant." She reassured him under her breath.

"Heavy drinking leads to loss of inhibitions, impaired judgment, and increased sexual desires. The way she's headed, out of those, I'm saying she's going two of three that I'll bear witness to." Reid muttered bitterly and edged his way out of the kitchen. Dinner was going to be a ride, the kind that you'd puke on.


	10. Chapter 9 Part 2

A/N: Made it a two parter because together they were too long, but I wanted the dinner to be a more cohesive event. This story is kinda slow moving, but I want to pay attention to their lives and their happiness, not just their angst, although I certainly do enjoy writing it. Heehee.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews =) I may upload another chapter later today since I just have to proof read it.

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Hunger had the rest of the agents joining Reid at the dining table promptly. Morgan and Reid sat next to each other since that's what they'd normally do. JJ sat on Reid's other side, with Will at one head of the table with Henry on his lap, Hotch at the other head. Prentiss was settled next to Morgan, and across from them were Garcia, Kevin, and Rossi.

"Let's eat." Hotch licked his lips greedily and dug into his moderately sized plate.

Manners were well practiced around JJ's kitchen table, lest she smacked you upside the head, so Morgan and Kevin fought to keep their eating at a reasonable pace, and their elbows off the table. Reid nibbled politely as he usually did, talking animatedly with JJ, when he heard Morgan scoff from beside him.

"That's all you grabbed, Pretty Boy? Did you see how much food there is?"

"Of course, Morgan. I helped prepare it." Reid said plainly and turned to continue his conversation with JJ, but to his horror he spotted Garcia's mouth opening.

"I thought Morgan prepared _you_." She winked and Morgan's eyes bulged out of his sockets. She was making him pay for withholding information from her, he just knew it.

To Reid and Morgan's relief the team seemed to take the comment as normal Garcia talk and ignored it completely, despite Reid's face turning a shade of bright pink.

"So, how's Jack's soccer team going?" Morgan had regained his composure, but his voice was strained.

Excitement flashed over Hotch and Rossi's faces. Neither would admit it, but despite that they didn't keep score, they were slightly competitive coaches, and completely in love with it.

"I'd rather hear about your and Reid's teams. Which ones do you-Ow! What the he-" Garcia cried indignantly as she felt a foot come in contact with one of her shins.

"It's rude to interrupt Penelope." JJ growled, her eyes flashing the look she got when someone spilled on her new carpet.

"Yeah, Aunt Penny!" Henry accused.

Dread began to line Reid's stomach walls. She was about to ask what teams they batted for. It was easy to tell, at least for him. Hopefully, their friends had missed it.

"It's great! We got them to stop bunching up so much, which is a big thing for kids their age." Hotch exclaimed happily.

_Good. They didn't notice._ Reid thought and stabbed a piece of chicken with a little too much zest. He needed to calm down, and judging by the way Morgan was glancing at him through the corner of his eyes, he thought so too. Shimmying himself in his seat to get more comfortable, Reid stroke up conversation with Kevin about Dr. Who.

Plates clean to the last crumb, the friends leaned back to unbuckle their pants and bellow laughter as they listened to Prentiss recount her date from the previous weekend. They were in stitches by the end, and wiped tears of laughter from their eyes as they fought to regain their composures.

"Alright, desert?" JJ clapped her hands together and glanced around the table warmly.

"I'm sure Reid wouldn't mind a popsicle, if you catch my drift." Garcia winked at JJ who shook her head, trying to play off the comment as if it didn't matter. Morgan was gripping his hands together under the table. He couldn't help but let his gaze slide around the group for a brief second. Luckily, their friends seemed distracted with each other.

"I've got ice cream, and pumpkin pie." JJ offered, but again no one was really listening.

"Hey! Listen up! The woman of the house is speaking." Rossi demanded of his comrades in his best authoritative voice.

"Thank you, Rossi." JJ laughed good naturedly. "Desert, go forth and get it." JJ motioned dramatically to the kitchen and the agents leapt from their seats, Morgan's chair even falling backwards violently, and they all bolted, pushing each other out of the way. JJ's pie was famous to say the least, and often who ever got their last didn't get any.

Reid tried to use his small size to his advantage to slip through unnoticed, and cursed Garcia when she smacked his bottom, taking him by surprise and shoving him out of the way.

"Don't worry Pretty Boy, I'll get you a piece too." Morgan whispered into Reid's ear, before throwing himself forward full force into the throng.

JJ, Henry, Will, and Prentiss watched with amusement as their friends shoved, stumbled, and even smacked each other to get to the kitchen. Being the mother of the group, JJ used to try to assemble some order to it and keep them in check, but she'd given up after the sixth time of being nearly trampled.

"Back ye devils!" Morgan's voice bellowed, and he brandished the pie cutter in front of him.

"Is that a challenge?" Hotch snatched a butter knife off the table, but Garcia pushed him out of her way.

Reid stood in the doorway of the kitchen staring at them with raised eyebrowed amusement. Is this really what they looked like when they did battle? He shrugged and walked back to the table to sit with the others.

"Ah, now you get it. Patience. I baked two this time. Don't tell anyone." JJ confided softly. Will handed Henry to her and headed to the kitchen to make sure no one got hurt, while Prentiss and Reid had a good laugh. "Don't do what they're doing. They're being very naughty." JJ leaned over and instructed her son who babbled happily in her lap, playing with his plastic spoon.

"Hey, I got here first. Let me just dish up my damn plate." Morgan demanded as Garcia, Hotch, Kevin and Rossi all advanced on him. His eyes darted from one to the other, accessing his situation. There was only one way to do it then. He'd promised his Pretty Boy pumpkin pie dammit, granted he didn't say how nice it would look.

Wasting no more time, Morgan turned and sliced two pieces out of the pie in three quick, but very sloppy, motions.

"Noooo!" Garcia howled. "You eat so much, you'll take half the pie!" She surged forward but he had slopped the two pieces onto one plate and swiveled out of the way just in time. He tucked the plate under his arm and ran with it like a football, causing his friends to jump back in alarm.

"I told you I'd get you a slice!" Morgan announced with bravado, holding his prize in front of him to show off his victory. He winced apologetically at JJ before picking his chair up off the floor and settling back down. The sounds of commotion could still be heard from the kitchen.

"Do you think I should go in there?" JJ shifted in her seat to try to see.

"No, if they break anything, they'll buy it." Prentiss waved her hand dismissively and crossed one leg over the other. "Nice looking pie." She snorted at Morgan who narrowed his eyes at her.

"You're just jealous that you don't have any yet. Come on, Spencer. Eat up. You barely had any dinner." Morgan nudged the plate towards Reid who, knowing the 'I'm a stubborn alpha male' look, picked up his fork to comply.

"Wait…" Prentiss said slowly, her eyes flashed from one man to the other. "Did you just call him Spencer?" Reid's fork halted half way to his mouth as it gaped open.

Kicking himself, Morgan knew he couldn't lie. It had been a rhetorical question. "Well, yeah. We are best buds."

"But, you've never done that before."

"Well, I started calling you Emily a whole lot more over the last year." JJ interjected helpfully. "I used to only call you Prentiss."

_Probably a good thing JJ knows. She's going to save our asses more than we deserve._ Reid thought, and remembering he was supposed to be enjoying JJ's pie, he shoved the bite into his mouth before anyone could provoke him to speak.

"There's no more pie!" Kevin's voice cried from the kitchen, as Garcia, Rossi, and Hotch walked proudly into the room with their own well fought for pieces.

"It's alright, Kevin. She made another one." Will's chuckle floated out to the dining room. Four pairs of eyes darted to JJ.

"Are you serious?" Hotch blanched. "I just brandished a butter knife around threateningly, when there was whole other pie?"

"No one told you to act like a ten year old, something very strange for you anyway. Are you feeling alright?" JJ responded playfully, and stood, hefting Henry onto her hip.

"Come on, monster man. Time to get some pie for the rest of us." She tickled him under his chin and he giggled.

"Damn sneaky woman." Rossi grumbled, but began to slowly take down his pie, relishing in the way the taste rolled through his mouth.

Stern eyebrows smoothed themselves from Hotch's brow as he too turned to his plate, accepting the situation with amusement.

"So, is Morgan as sloppy with his pie cutting abilities as is he is with his double dog daring?" Garcia leaned forward to ask Reid in a hushed voice.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Morgan snapped, his fist clenching around his fork.

_Great. Morgan's getting close to losing it. Surprised he made it this long._ Reid knew Morgan was protective of him, and of them. The taunting was going to toe the line sooner or later.

"Double dog dare could mean many, many things, Chocolate God. Take your pick. Or maybe our Sexy Genius would like to?" She turned her mischievous gaze to Reid who quickly averted his eyes to his plate to poke around the remains of his crust.

"Garcia. Maybe you should lay off the wine for awhile." Morgan's hand was pulling back her glass before her protest could leave her lips.

"Probably a good thing." Rossi agreed with a shrug and she turned her glare to him.

Mercifully, Garcia turned to her pie and the tension visibly lessoned in Morgan's shoulders. By the time JJ returned with Henry, conversation had churned up again. Having finished his own pie Reid reached out to take Henry so JJ and Will could both enjoy desert unhindered.

Unable to stop himself, Morgan observed Reid with his godson. While at first Reid had been concerned about the Reid effect, which usually caused dogs and small children to act weary around him, he'd grown close to Henry and his ease with him was palpable. He bounced Henry on his knee playfully, much to the toddlers delight. Morgan smiled softly at him for a moment, the image of Reid caring for their own child popping into his mind. When he turned back to the table he found Garcia giving him a knowing smile, but she, thank whatever god, kept her mouth shut.

"Spence, do you want to get Henry ready for bed? I'm sure he'd love you to tell him a story." JJ suggested, knowing how much her son loved his godfather's bed time stories.

"Story, Uncle Pen! Story!" Henry demanded happily, much to Reid's delight.

"Alright, alright, but I think you forgot the magic word." Reid turned his head to look the youngster in the eyes.

"Pwease!"

"Alright, let's go." Reid lifted Henry in his arms as he stood, and made his way upstairs. Desire to follow him itched through Morgan's legs, but he thought it would be odd to the others, so he forced himself to stay seated.

"So, any one sticking in your love life lately, Morgan?" Prentiss' voice jerked him out of his fantasies of Reid and his future. At first he wasn't sure what to say. Deny it, or give limited information so he could make excuses for his happiness at the office?

"I'm not sure I should answer that. I can't have you scaring them off, if there were to be someone." Morgan grinned devilishly at her.

Scoffing, Prentiss set down her fork. "So, there is someone."

"Someone better than your last date, and that's all I'm going to say." Morgan crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He knew his posture read as defensive, but that's how he felt, so hell with it.

Sounds of Henry's laughter pranced down from upstairs, causing Will and JJ to exchange grateful smiles.

"He is so good with him. It's nice when he takes over for a bit." Will admitted, almost guiltily, but every one knew it was true for any parent. "Who's up for basketball? We can catch the last half of the game."

Hotch, Rossi, Kevin, and Morgan all stood simultaneously to follow Will for more beers and to settle in the living room, leaving the women to some much needed girl time.

"Okay, Spiderman jammies, check." Reid tapped his finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Spiderman blanket, check." He tucked the blanket around Henry the way he liked it and the boy snuggled deeper into it. "Tyrannosaurus, check." He handed the stuffed t-rex to his godson, who took it and cuddled him close to his chest. "Now, I know I'm forgetting something." Reid turned to and fro, pretending to look for the missing piece.

"Story, silly Pen, story." Henry reminded him with a giggle.

"Ah, yes. Very silly of me, indeed. Which one will it be tonight?"

"Arry Potter." Henry requested shyly.

Nodding, Reid stroked back a piece of hair from Henry's face and began where he'd left off the last time he'd tucked him into bed.

Two chapters later, Henry was dead asleep. Reid leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the forehead before standing to take his leave, nearly jumping through the ceiling when he saw Morgan standing in the doorway.

"Jeez, ninja." Reid hissed under his breath as not to wake Henry. He shooed Morgan into the hallway before closing the door softly behind him.

"I didn't want to wake him." Morgan whispered, with a dreamy look on his face. "Besides, I don't know why, but seeing you with him does something weird to me."

The admission went straight to Reid's heart, but also his head. "As sweet as that is, not the time, nor the place." Reid responded, but gave Morgan's hand a brief squeeze before turning towards the staircase.

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Knowledge that the next day was Monday weighing in their guts, Morgan and Reid climbed back into Morgan's SUV. The night had ended with a short game of cards, and Garcia's small apology to Morgan about her behavior as they walked out the door.

Music played gently from the radio as lights flashed through the car every so often. Mentally kicking himself, Morgan couldn't help but think he shouldn't have said anything about seeing Reid interact with Henry. It was three days into their relationship, and he had to go and mention kids. Feelings of love for Reid aside, he shouldn't have said anything, especially since he hadn't voiced his love out loud yet.

"Back to the grind tomorrow." Morgan sighed and tapped his fingers restlessly against the steering wheel.

"Did you know that heart attacks most often occur on Mondays?" Reid replied absently.

"No, but thank you. I'll try to avoid that tomorrow." Morgan chuckled as he turned into Reid's parking lot. "Well, babe. That weekend went by for too fast." Morgan sighed, feeling a little depressed that his Pretty Boy wouldn't be warming his bed that night.

"Yes. Our perception of time was definitely skewed by our happiness." Reid agreed, and leaned over the center console to lay a gentle kiss on the corner of his boyfriend's mouth. Sighing, Morgan turned his head to catch Reid's lips in a cherishing good bye kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Reid murmured, and Morgan nodded, watching his genius until he'd made it inside the building, thoughts of their future and the four letter L word shoving their way around in his head, distracting him from his normal vigilance, the figure of a man watching him going completely unnoticed.


	11. Chapter 10

"Careless, god damn, stupid, macho man…" Reid cursed under his breath, his legs bringing him on a constant path of pacing, his hands going from wringing themselves together, and scratching harshly against the back of his neck, and up his forearms.

Prentiss' eyes followed him as his frantic pacing picked up in speed. They were on a case, another bloody, brutal case, their seventh since Morgan and Reid's relationship had evolved. There was a hostage situation, and their usual command center to run point from was set up near the building. The unsub was a teacher, and although they were trying to go in to the school covert, with only a few agents in civilian garb, a student had asked if there was a new teacher. It had alerted the unsub, and he'd taken his classroom of students hostage, tying them to their desks.

Naturally, the rest of the building was cleared, and they'd called to establish trust between him and them, moving themselves 100 feet further back from the building and removing the SWAT teams presence from the immediate area.

Still, they had barely gained any ground with the man. After one student death, and the rape he'd forced them to listen to over the line, they all had lost it, ready to go in guns a blazing. His actions had brought the realization it was only a game to him, and no matter what they did, none of the student's would be leaving the situation unscathed if they went in or not. They needed to get them out, they needed to do an exchange.

Despite protests from more than just Reid, Morgan had gone in, unarmed, to exchange himself for the students. They all knew having an FBI agent in his hands would make the man feel more powerful than the handful of students would. Every one of them tried to volunteer themselves, but in the end it was Morgan. It was always Morgan.

"Don't worry, Reid. He can handle himself." Prentiss was the first to speak since Morgan had gone in, it had already been 45 minutes and 32 seconds, and the terrifying timer was still going in Reid's mind.

"Our unsub is a fucking maniac, and he's gone in unarmed! Not even a damn ankle holster!" Reid yelled at her, his eyes slightly manic with anger and worry.

"After we get the students out, we go in. He won't be alone with him for long, and you know this unsub likes to take his time." Hotch reminded Reid, his commanding tone also reminding him to stay his temper.

Arguments and rage stuffed down, Reid halted stiff as a board when the phone rang.

"SSA Hotchner here."

"Your gift is too generous. I will send out the students." The unsub's slimey voice filled Reid's ears like grease, and he glowered at the offending telephone.

"You are merciful." Hotch told him, using the language to akin him to a man of power.

The call ended, and the FBI team assembled together, ready to go in. They didn't have time to wait for SWAT, and none of them wanted anyone but themselves going in. One of their own in danger, even of their choosing, they formed a brutal team to be reckoned with.

JJ squeezed Reid's arm briefly as she fell in line behind him. Students began to flee from the building, and the agents signaled them to continue down the road to the diner down a block, before surging forward to go along the side of the building, hoping the man was preoccupied enough not to notice.

It seemed like the sand in the hourglass of time had jammed up and was no longer sifting through the seconds as the agents made their way down the school hallway from a side entrance. Their foot falls could've been mistaken for the wind, their eyes and hands sweeping every corner and doorway.

Attention focused on getting to his boyfriend, Reid's adrenaline pumped hysterically through him. When he got his hands on that man, he was going to beat him senseless. He should've sent a member of SWAT in with FBI credentials, but no. He'd had to insist on it. Sure, he'd saved some other man or woman from doing it, but dammit. Didn't he know what he was doing to Reid?

C104, that was their classroom. Reid allowed Hotch to step in front of him. His boss raised his leg and struck out at the door, bursting it open erratically. The young genius was right on his heels as they rushed the room.

His eyes flashed across the room, accessing the situation. Morgan was uninjured as far as he could tell, and that's all that mattered. He trained his gun on the unsub and stepped in to his vision.

"Hands in the air!" Reid shouted, the authority of his voice surprising even himself. "Now!"

With a sickening grin, the man turned his gun to Morgan.

There was no hesitation or thought before it happened, and no remorse after. Reid was the first one to get a shot off, hitting the man in his gun arm. His weapon dropped to the floor, and he grabbed at his wound.

"You little shit!" The man hissed, but Rossi was on him, grabbing his wrists roughly and twisting them behind his back, the Miranda rights falling from his lips. They all knew why Reid hadn't shot to kill, wanting the sicko to suffer through the penal system.

Rossi shoved the man roughly from the room, who's voice could be heard screeching through the halls. Ignoring the scene completely, Reid only had eyes for Morgan. Granted they were mostly pissed off eyes, but relief had filled them as well. He dropped to his knees and began to fiddle with the zip ties around Morgan's wrists.

"What kind of a teacher has zip ties in the god damn classroom?" Reid gritted his teeth in frustration, then remembered the knife Morgan had given to him before leaving to enter the building. He pulled it out of his pocket and snapped it open with a movement of his wrist.

"Whoa, Pretty Boy." Morgan eyed the blade wearily.

"You, you shut the fuck up. You don't get to speak." Reid spat and with one cut the zip ties fell from Morgan's wrists.

"Rei-"

The look on Reid's face was enough for Morgan to close his mouth with a loud snap. JJ decided it was time for the rest of them to take their leave, and grabbed a hold of Hotch's arm, dragging him after her to flee the room. She knew what it was like to fear for a loved one in a similar situation, and she was sure by Reid's uncharacteristic reaction to it, Reid's way of dealing with it was something she shouldn't be there for. She made sure to reassure every one the two men would be close behind, and managed to discreetly move them out of the building with her.

Normally, Reid would've taken a mental note to thank her for her aid once again, but he wasn't thinking normally, he was thinking red.

"You, careless, inconsiderate, prick!" He exploded finally and leapt to his feet to glare down at his boyfriend.

"Hey, this is our job man. This shit happens." Morgan stood to meet Reid's gaze. "I knew you didn't like it going in, but did you think I was going to let someone else offer themselves up?"

"Oh, of course. Mr. Macho Morgan, can't have anyone else in danger! Has to put his life in harms way, has to protect everyone! The human fucking shield! No one else can do it, it always has to be you?!" Reid stepped forward, his voice raising in volume with every word.

"I'm the best one for it, and you know it!" Morgan jabbed his finger into Reid's chest, who's eyes flashed with flame. "We can't send you in, we can't send one of the girls in, Hotch is the boss, he can't go in, and Rossi's earned his right to not jump in front of the gun!"

"And you haven't?!" Reid's throat already felt scratched from screaming, but he didn't care. "Why can't you share the burden? I don't care if from time to time you do this, but dammit Morgan I've watched you do this _every_ time! You aren't a super hero, and neither are my emotions!" Their faces were inches away from each other.

"This is our job! Not coddle Spencer Reid's emotions time!" Morgan bellowed back. Without thinking, Reid lifted his hands and shoved Morgan at his chest.

"Fuck you, you conceited neanderthal!" Reid didn't recognize his voice as his own, he turned to storm away, but Morgan's hand stopped him with a bruising grip around his wrist. The elder jerked Reid back to him, snarling.

"You don't get to be like that." The two men were nose to nose. "You don't get to act like some little bitch. We are on a case-" In a blur, Reid's hand came up to slap Morgan in the face, catching him off guard, his hand automatically returning the back hand, snapping Reid's head to the side. Wide eyed with horror, Morgan took a trembling step backward. What were they doing?

Reid didn't even seem phased by their physical violence, he took a step forward, discoloration already lighting up the side of his pale face. "Little bitch? Huh?! You know why I was so worried? Do you even care?"

"There's no shitty damn excuse-"

"Because I fucking love you!"

"Well, I fucking love you!"

Dark eyes met chocolate brown, and the tension in the air that was bowing between them finally snapped. Morgan surged forward and slammed his body into Reid's, rushing him into the wall where they hit it with such force that Reid's head bounced off it with a loud bang. Dark tinted lips found pink ones in a harsh, bruising kiss. Unforgiving and lined with fury and passion, they drank each other in. One of Reid's nimble hands gripped the back of Morgan's neck like a vise, while one of Morgan's cruelly yanked Reid's head back by his hair to bite down on the sensitive flesh of the long expanse of neck his actions left exposed.

Their hands gripped, yanked, and wandered across whatever parts of their bodies their Kevlar vests allowed them to reach. Their fear, rage and passion poured out into each other, until their emotions rode the tide in to the shore of assurance. Morgan broke his lips away to rest his forehead on the wall above Reid's shoulder, his breath coming in heated gasps.

Reid turned his head to nuzzle into his boyfriend's neck. "I love you." He whispered, his body slumping from the adrenaline high.

"I love you." Morgan returned in a hush. Relief of their well being, and their spoken emotions enveloped them as they stood in each other's embrace. Neither moved other than gentle touches and loving kisses until JJ's voice called from the hallway. Regret of their episode filled them, but it was replaced with the comfort that their love was finally spoken.

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No one questioned the matching blossoming bruises on the two agents' cheeks the plane ride home, or why Reid's collar was popped up on one side to hide a small portion of his neck.

When they landed, yet again no one questioned Morgan and Reid as they both headed to Morgan's SUV with no words spoken between them.

Darkness plagued Morgan's house, and the two men didn't bother flicking on any lights. They toed off their shoes, kicking them across the floor carelessly. In silent agreement, they made their way up the stairs to the bedroom.

Guilt gripped Reid's insides when he thought of his behavior. Morgan was right, they were on a case. He had no rights to do that there, or at all, but he had lost control of his emotions. The fear that he had never told Morgan how much he loved him, and that he would die before he could, had taken over and driven him into a madness. Misdirected or not, his anger had been valid, and he hadn't been able to restrain himself.

Morgan could almost feel the way the back of his hand had stung with more than just the feel of Reid's face when he'd slapped him, and he wanted to replace the violent feeling with something tender. With slumped shoulders, Morgan watched Reid stripping off his shirt and slacks. Beautiful pale skin was revealed inch by inch for him, and an undeserving feeling bubbled in his gut.

"Pretty Boy, I'm sorry…"

One slender hand was held up for silence. "I'm sorry, Derek. I shouldn't have exploded like that, or initiated violence." Reid's voice slid through the dark, barely audible.

Sliding his shirt over his head, Morgan sucked on the inside of his cheek. "I'm still sorry, Spencer. I should've thought about you too."

"My life wasn't the one in danger." Reid told him. As he sought to apologize to his boyfriend, he began to feel more ashamed of his actions.

Blankets were thrown back and the two men climbed between the sheets. Morgan's arms reached out and curled Reid into his chest, intertwining their legs together. Taking a deep breath, he let Reid's natural scent wash over him, and felt his muscles begin to melt at the feel of his love against his body.

"I'm really sorry. I can't believe I acted that way…I kept thinking how I had never told you how much I love you, and if something happened to you and you didn't know before you…And if you suffered any pain to protect us, and those children…I couldn't stand the thought…" Reid cut himself off before his words became a ramble, shame lighting his cheeks.

Morgan lifted his hand and stroked the back of his knuckles against Reid's cheek, sighing at the feel of his satin flesh rubbing against the knuckles he had used to harm him earlier.

"I'm sorry I hit you." Reid mumbled.

"I'm sorry I hit you back…Sometimes those kind of things happen…" Morgan tried to shrug but couldn't in his current position.

"It's inexcusable." Reid replied bitterly. The darkness that normally sent him into shivers wrapped itself around the two, and in that moment it was only them. The world melted away and they forgot their external worries.

With tender kisses to Reid's eyelids, Morgan brought his lips down to kiss over the bite mark on Reid's neck.

"Sometimes, violent things happen in situations like that. Not every one can say they work with their boyfriend or girlfriend in the setting we do. The stress it causes, and the fear and anger you feel for, and at the other, is overwhelming sometimes." Morgan reassured his boyfriend, kissing back up his neck. It should've scared him that he knew their slaps wouldn't be their last, but it didn't.

"Have you ever felt that way before?" Reid questioned incredulously.

Heaving a sigh, Morgan lifted his head to tuck Reid's head under his chin, constricting him closer to his body. "So many times. But since we got together, last week…Illinois…He had a knife to your throat, he started to run his hand down your side…"

"I remember." Came Reid's muffled response from Morgan's chest.

"I shot him. I could've let him live, I could've gotten you away without hurting either of you. I wouldn't." Morgan admitted to his love and the darkness. "After I was so angry with you, and myself. I wanted to tell you right then how much I loved you, and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, but I didn't, because I also wanted to shake the shit out of you, and ask why you hadn't checked that corner. After I calmed down, I realized that it wasn't your fault. SWAT was there, they were supposed to have your back…"

Silence reigned supreme once more and Reid began to lay kisses across Morgan's chest. "I'm sorry…"

"Let's not be sorry anymore. It was a tough case, tough day. But at the end of it all, I love you. I love you so much and it feels so good to finally say it."

"Want to go on your roof and let the world know?" Reid suggested playfully with a grin.

"Absolutely."

"I was joking." Reid winced, imagining the horribly cliché movie moment.

Strong arms lifted Reid to sit up, and lead him across the room. "I love you." Morgan murmured and linked his arms around Reid's waist, pushing him forward gently down the hallway. "Guest bedroom." He commanded, and Reid obeyed, peppering kisses down from Morgan's ear to the crook of his neck, nibbling on the sensitive flesh. Passion kindling in their loins.

Groaning, Morgan licked along the shell of Reid's ear, eliciting a rewarding whimper that went straight to his cock. The feeling of Morgan hardening against Reid's thigh as they stumbled together down the hall sent a shiver up Reid's spine, one of his slender hands palming his boyfriend over his shorts.

"Aw, fuck." Morgan moaned, and slammed Reid against the wall of the hallway, sucking a trail of kisses down his boyfriend's heaving chest. Morgan's dark eyes drank in the sight of his boyfriend's face, his eyes half lidded with lust, his lips parted, breath coming in gasps.

Twirling them back around, Morgan shoved their path forward to the guest bedroom, determined to get them to the roof. With a groan, Reid bit down onto Morgan's shoulder before sucking and licking at the skin, savoring their developed sexual ease.

Despite Morgan's determination to get to their destination, Reid had other plans. The young man ran his hands across Morgan's torso lightly, sending shivers through his body, before plunging passed his waist line and gripping Morgan's bare cock. With a animalistic growl, Morgan surged his body forward, sending the men sprawling onto the floor of the guest room.

Ah, well. Close enough to the roof.

"I fucking love you," Morgan moaned. "So fucking much." He ran his hands up Reid's sides, fingers splayed across the pale flesh, drinking in the sight of the body writhing below him. Both men's bodies and minds determined to display their affections.

"I love you, Derek, fucking love you." Reid moaned, a whimper falling from his lips when Morgan tweaked his nipples. Reid wrapped his long legs around Morgan's waist, pulling the athletic man's body closer to him, his hips raising to grind desperately against the other's.

"Ah, shit, baby, you are too fucking sexy." Morgan bit out before forcing Reid's grip to lesson so he could work his way down the lean body. Laying teasing kisses across Reid's hips and down his legs, he purposefully ignored Reid's hardened member, causing the other man to twist and squirm with anticipation.

"Please, Derek. Please."

"Please what?" Morgan questioned innocently, hooking his fingers in the waistband of Reid's shorts.

"Please, touch me dammit!" Reid cried, and Morgan thrust Reid's boxers down, letting his angry red cock bob in the air for a moment before leaning towards it. With a puff of breath down the shaft, Morgan lay a soft kiss to the head. "Ahhh, dammit, Morgan you tease." Reid hissed breathlessly.

With a chuckle, Morgan slowly plunged Reid's cock into his mouth, sucking harshly around the member. Reid let out a cry of pleasure and relief at the feel of the wet warmth enveloping him. Working his way down the hilt, Morgan slowly moved back, and forward. His bobbing increasing in rhythm. With a swallow, Morgan hummed, the other man's hips twitching upward with a moan.

Using his tongue to swirl around the head and down the shaft with his movements, Morgan sucked as if he was trying to swallow Reid's soul. Long fingers grasped his skull desperately, and Reid's hips rose and fell of their own accord, fucking Morgan's mouth who groaned in approval, the combination of the vibrations, the ministrations of his tongue, and the suction of his mouth pulling Reid's orgasm out of him. His seed shot into Morgan's mouth, coating his tongue in the sugary taste that was distinctly Reid.

Panting, Reid grabbed a hold of Morgan's arms, dragging him back up to his lips to suck and bite on the man's tongue.

"Derek…" Reid murmured, licking across the other man's bottom lip.

"Mmm."

"I want you." Gone was the shy quality of Reid's voice when it came to sexual encounters, passion and confidence taking it's place.

Still, Morgan paused, and ran his hand gently down Reid's side. "I want you, but Spencer, we don't have to-"

"No, I want you. Now."

Morgan pulled his head back far enough to look into Reid's eyes. Eyes filled with devotion, want, need, lust, and love. With a affectionate kiss, Morgan sat up slightly, Reid's legs wrapping themselves around his waist. Steady hands grasped Reid's bottom to lift him up with Morgan, his member pressing against Reid's stomach. Morgan stood and carried his boyfriend back down the hallway to the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them.

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A/N: Some hot sexy time coming up in the next chapter if you didn't already guess. =) Hope you all enjoyed!


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